mask
- Museum number
- Oc1855,1220.169
- Description
-
Mask made of turtle-shell plates which have been bent to form an elaborate human face, and sewn into place with fibre; inlaid shell eyes.
- Production date
- 19thC (before 1855)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 40 centimetres
-
Width: 24 centimetres
-
Depth: 28 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
See Simpson 2020 for an argument why this object may have been collected by Frederick Whipple.
-
Description from Extracts from the British and Medieval Register 1757-1878, p.184:
169. A mask made of tortoise shell long and narrow. L. 16 in. W. 9 inches. From Murrays Island, Torres Straits.
-
This mask is discussed in Haddon's 'Expedition to the Torres Strait', vol 4, p.298, who suggests that it was of the kind used in funeral ceremonies; an accompanying sketch by a Torres Strait islander shows a mask being worn on top of the head, and certainly the shell eyes on this mask would prevent a wearer from seeing through them. An original label on the top of the mask says 'A Tortoise Shell mask from Murray's Island, Torres Strait' (best guess - the label is faded). (MOH,4/1996).
-
Comment from Jude Philp, Senior Curator at the Macleay Museum in 2009 'wooden and turtle-shell masks often have 'eye' holes through the nose element'. This would enable the wearer of the mask to see out.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1993, London, Hayward Gallery, Aratjara: Aboriginal Art from Australia
1998, University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Torres Strait Islanders
2015 23 Apr-2 Aug, London, BM, G35, Indigenous Australia: enduring civilisation
2015-2016 27 Nov-28 Mar, Canberra, National Museum of Australia, Encounters
- Condition
- Good
- Acquisition date
- 1855
- Acquisition notes
- Presented by the Lords of the Admiralty through Sir John Liddell, C.B. (the Museum of Haslar Hospital)
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1855,1220.169
