1884.140.35.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Four rings [.1-.4] of turtleshell with overlapping ends. [El.B DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 31/08/2010]

Geographical reference

Vanuatu

Oceania > Melanesia > Vanuatu

Anatom Erromango

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector Henry Mangles Denham

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1861

Date collected

1852 - 1861

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Tortoiseshell Reptile, Material Turtleshell Reptile, Process Carved

Dimensions

Diameter: max 60 mm, Diameter: max 58 mm, Diameter: max 54 mm, Diameter: max 24 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.140.35.1 Accession number: 1884.140.35.2 Accession number: 1884.140.35.3 Accession number: 1884.140.35.4

Research and responses

For an account of the 1852-1861 voyage of the Herald, see The Voyage of HMS Herald to Australia and the South-west Pacific under the Command of Captain Henry Mangles Denham, by Andrew David (Melbourne: The Miegunyah Press (Melbourne University Press), 1995). [AP 27/4/2001; JC 21 8 2010]

An announcement in the 'Sales by Auction' section of The Times (no. 27,942, Thursday 5 May 1874, p. 16, col. a) of the sale of Admiral Denham's 'ethnographic' collection reads: 'The Collection of Natural History Specimens and Native Weapons, &c., of Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Denham, formed during the voyage of H.M.S. Herald. Mr J. C. STEVENS will SELL by AUCTION, at his great Rooms, 33, King-street, Covent-garden, W.C., on Friday, March 6th at half-past 12 precisely, the MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY SPECIMENS and NATIVE WEAPONS and ORNAMENTS, collected by Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Denham in the South Sea Islands, consisting of rare birds, shells, minerals, insects, &c., carved wood spears, clubs, bowls, ivory ornaments, musical instruments, native dresses, &c. Also some stuffed birds in cases, heads and horns, minerals and fossils, &c. On view the morning of sale, and catalogues had.' [JC 21 10 2014]

Associated publications

Referred to in passing on pages 226 and 235 (note 28) of '"African Curiosities" from the Voyage of HMS Avon, 1845–1846: Historiographical Notes on a Forgotten Collection', by Jeremy Coote, in Journal of the History of Collections, Vol. 31, no. 2 (2019), pp. 221–237 [published online on 14 June 2018 at https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/fhy010 ]. Printout of whole article in RDF: Biographies: Denham (Avon). NB The accession numbers are given wrognly as '1884.140.135.1-.4'. [JC 20 7 2018, 6 9 2019]

Search terms: Ornament, Body Art, Ear Ornament, Body Art Accessory