figure;
house-ornament;
bead
- Museum number
- Oc1854,1229.120
- Description
-
Standing female figure of wood, with hands on stomach. Necklace of discs of shell and coconut shell (?) theaded on vegetable fibre. Face, stomach and knees ornamented with carving.
- Dimensions
-
Height: 38 centimetres (Necklace)
-
Height: 66.50 centimetres
-
Width: 7 centimetres (Necklace)
-
Width: 17.30 centimetres
-
Depth: 1 centimetres (Necklace)
-
Depth: 12.20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
BM Registration Slip: Original (?) information :
'Austral Group - High Island
Standing female figure with hands on belly. Ornamental bar across forehead - on the chest is a semi-circular hand. Face, stomach and knees ornamented with carving.
Figure from the front of a house Feejee Isles'
Extracts from the BM Register:
'120. Wooden figure from front of a house, grotesque and rude engraved triangular ornaments and stars, round it a bead necklace. H. 2 feet 2 1/2 inches. 119 and 120 from Fiji Ids'
-
The shell bead necklace may not have originally belonged to this figure.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1990 20 Oct-9 Dec, Japan, Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.244
1991 5 Jan-20 Feb, Japan, Yamaguchi, Prefectural Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.244
1991 9 Mar-7 May, Japan, Osaka, National Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.244
2014 23 May-3 Aug, Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, Atua: Sacred art from Polynesia
2014-2015 12 Oct-4 Jan, St Louis Art Museum, Atua: Sacred art from Polynesia
- Acquisition date
- 1854
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1854,1229.120