The story of the statue from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), £5.00
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AOA 1934-3
The Pacific: Gods and People
Man's headdress (Pa'e Kaha)
This prestigious headdress, worn by men, is of the type known as Pa'e Kaha. It consists of alternating plates of turtle-shell and white triton shell. Each plate is connected by coconut fibre string, threaded through drilled holes, to the plaited coconut fibre headband. The turtle-shell plates are carved in low relief with complete and partial human figures, called tiki in Marquesan. The human figure is often depicted in Marquesan art. Illustrations and descriptions contemporary with the early period of European contact indicate that the plates were worn downwards, somewhat surprisingly, as this inverts the figures. More recent versions replace the turtle-shell plates with a synthetic substitute.
Other ornaments from the Marquesas Islands include shell and turtle-shell forehead decorations mounted on a fibre headband, armlets and leglets of human hair, and ivory ear ornaments carved with human figures or faces.