Skip to content
Pitt Rivers Museum
AboutHire the MuseumNewsletterUniversity of Oxford

1920.100.400

Wooden disk ornamented with inlaid haliotis shell and red seed in the centre. [El.B DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 29/11/2010]

On display

1920.100.400

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Terms and Conditions

If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.

Collection type
Object
Description
Wooden disk ornamented with inlaid haliotis shell and red seed in the centre. [El.B DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 29/11/2010]
Geographical reference
Solomon Islands
Oceania > Melanesia > Solomon Islands
Florida Island
Person
Field collector Robert Henry Codrington
Field collector Melanesian Mission
PRM source Robert Henry Codrington
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1863
Date collected
1863
Acquisition information
Donated: 1920
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Material Haliotis Shell, Material Plant Seed, Process Carved, Process Inlaid
Dimensions
Diameter: max 95 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1920.100.400
Research and responses

An illustration of this object (two views: front and side) is included in a sheet of gouache and graphite drawings held at the British Museum (Oc2006,Drg.311). According to the British Museum's records, at the time the drawings were made the objects were in the possession of the collector's brother Thomas Codrington. On the back of the drawing is the following inscription (transcribed from the entry for the drawing in the BM's online database; not checked or corrected): 'Objects sent home by the Rev. R. H. Codrington. In possession of his brother Thos. Codrington, Esq. F.G.S. 1. Ear-ornament of pale cold wood, inlaid with heliotis shell and crimson berries. and on one side with white paint. Florida, Solomon Is. 2. Do, no white paint, both sides inlaind in the same manner. Florida Do. 3. figure cut out of a soft, buff-cold clayey material. 4. Lime case, and orange cold gourd, and woode, pin for do, attached is a label "maros u gasab."; a few glass beads attached. Savo, Solomon Is. 5. "Cocoa nut Scoop" made of human bone; discs of white shell are stuck in gum on the knuckle end. Lepers I. New Hebrides. 6. small cocoa-nut shell, etched, the pattern cold white. Savo, Solomon Is. 7. Large St short loop of coir attached.' The present object is presumably number 2 in this list. (See the RDF for printouts of the entry for the drawing on the British Museum's online database.) [JC 8 6 2012]

Search terms: Ornament, Ear Ornament

Further items to explore