container;
lid
- Museum number
- Oc1972,Q.95.a-b
- Description
-
Carved container and lid made of wood, with shell inlay. The inlay shell design shows a warrior holding a club in his right hand and the head of his enemy in his left.
- Production date
- 19thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 22.90 centimetres (including lid)
-
Width: 19.50 centimetres
-
Depth: 19.20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Information from Pacific Art in Detail: This container for holding valuables was made as a prestige item for Belau chief. The vessel has a suspension cord to tie it safely to a house beam. It would have held glass money beads, an ancient form of currency.
The figures are headhunters and each carries a weapon and a severed head. Headhunters are an appropriate image for a chief, who relied upon violent attacks on his neighbours to maintain his territory and authority.
-
Exhibition label text written by D.C. Starzecka:
Bowl with shell-inlay decoration, depicting warriors carrying heads.
Palau, Caroline Islands.
A richly-ornamented container like this would have belonged to a person of high rank.
-
Beasley, H. G., ‘Inlaid Bowl and Stand from the Pelews’. Man (1914) Vol. 14, pp.33-34
'Amaso Delano,* who visited the islands with McCluer in 1792, speaks of this inlay work with admiration, which he describes as taking the form of birds, fishes, flying foxes, and men, and adds that in addition to their utensils this work was used on their canoes and paddles.' p.34.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1983–1986 16 Dec-29 Jun, London, BM, Museum of Mankind, Pattern of islands: Micronesia yesterday and today
1997-1998 25 Sep-27 Jan, Osaka, National Museum of Ethnology, Images of Other Cultures
1998 11 Feb-12 Apr, Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Images of Other Cultures
- Acquisition notes
- Acquisition details unknown.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1972,Q.95.a-b