whisk;
baton
- Museum number
- Oc,LMS.57
- Description
-
Whisk handle, baton, of whale bone and pierced with multiple holes. The finial is carved as a contorted backward-arching figure.
- Production date
- 18thC(late)-19thC(early)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 24.50 centimetres
-
Width: 3.50 centimetres
-
Depth: 3 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
This piece has been associated with the Cook Islands due to a note saying 'Hervey Group' on the registration slip, which may have come from LMS documentation. By style, it is more likely to be Austral Islands in origin.
LMS Register slip:
79. Handle of a sacred fan. LMS Cat 76-80. Various whips - one of the handles if of carved bone, the others wood.
-
Hooper 2006
Pierced with multiple holes, this handle has a finial carved as a contorted backward-arching figure. The function, if any, of the painstakingly drilled holes is not known, but the importance of the piece is attested by its inclusion among 'The family idols of Pomare' of Tahiti as no. 9: 'Tahivi Anunaehau, the handle of the sacred fan with which the priest drove away the flies, while about his prayers and sacrifices' (see p.63). It may well have been an exotic import, the finial figure suggesting an Australs origin (see no.165).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2008 16 Jun-14 Sep, Paris, Musée du quai Branly, Pacific Encounters
2006 21 May-13 Aug, Norwich, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Pacific Encounters
- Acquisition date
- 1911
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc,LMS.57
- Additional IDs
-
CDMS number: Oc1911C27.57 (old CDMS no.)
-
Miscellaneous number: Oc1890,Loan (originally loaned to BM in 1890 by LMS)
