ear-ornament
- Museum number
- Oc.4574
- Description
-
Ear ornament, hakakai/ha'akai, made of bone, shell, wood. Cylindrical shell disc (worn to front), with wooden insert, and bone spur with relief-carved motif on side, and terminal tiki figure facing outwards.
- Dimensions
-
Height: 2.50 centimetres
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Width: 2.50 centimetres
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Depth: 6 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Small hakakai such as this could be worn by men or women, particularly for special occasions. See p.75, Kjellgren & Ivory (2005), ‘Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands’, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is noted that smaller hakakai were carved with a separate disc of shell and a spur of ivory/bone, as in this example, whereas larger hakakai were carved in one piece from ivory. The smaller hakakai are therefore similar to the pu taiana type of ear ornament, but the tiki figures carved on the spur of hakakai contrast with the openwork spurs of the pu taiana.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc.4574
- Additional IDs
-
CDMS number: Oc1868C1.4574 (old CDMS no.)