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1886.1.707

Ear ornament of cone shell base into which a wooden rod is stuck, with plant fibre string tied around it.

On display

1886.1.707

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Collection type
Object
Description
Ear ornament of cone shell base into which a wooden rod is stuck, with plant fibre string tied around it.
Long description
Ear ornament. Wooden, roughly carved, pointed rod. Widens into circular plug covered with white shell. (Lorraine Rostant 29/01/1996) [JFK 22/8/2008]
Date / Period
Date made: Before 11/04/1774
Date collected
Between 8 and 12 April 1774
Acquisition information
Transferred: 11/03/1886
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Material Conus Shell, Material Bark Fibre Plant, Process Perforated, Process Tied, Process Carved
Dimensions
Width: max 32 mm, Length: max 76 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1886.1.707 Other numbers: Forster 138
Associated publications
Apparently not listed in A Catalogue of the Ashmolean Museum Descriptive of the Zoological Specimens, Antiquities, Coins, and Miscellaneous Curiosities (Oxford, 1836). [JC 14 3 2015] Listed according to the 'Forster list' numbering system in 'From the Islands of the South Seas 1773–4': An Exhibition of a Collection Made on Capn. Cook’s Second Voyage of Discovery by J. R. Forster—A Short Guide, by Peter Gathercole (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, no date [1970]): '138. An ornament for the ear. Missing.' [JC 14 3 2015] Listed as number 6 under ‘The Marquesas Islands...Other Ornaments’ on page 167 of 'Artificial Curiosities': Being an Exposition of Native Manufactures Collected on the Three Pacific Voyages of Captain James Cook, R.N. at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, January 18, 1978 - August 31, 1978 on the Occasion of the Bicentennial of the European Discovery of the Hawaiian Islands by Captain Cook - January 18, 1778 (Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 65), by Adrienne L. Kaeppler (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1978): '6. Ear ornament, Oxford (136 [sic, 138]. Missing. Evidence: Forster collection. Literature: Gathercole, n.d. (1970) [see above]'.[JC 14 3 2015] Referred to on page 158 of 'Marquesan Art in the Early Contact Period, 1774–1821', by Carol Susan Ivory (Seattle: University of Washington, Ph.D. thesis, 1990). Ivory writes: 'Unfortunately, the only ear ornament identified as Cook voyage (from the Pitt Rivers Museum, [Forster] 135) is missing from the collection (Kaeppler 1978: 167 [see above]'. Also listed on page 402 of 'Appendix C Objects Collected 1774–1821, By Date Collected' and (as missing) on page 405 of 'Appendix D Objects Collected 1774–1821, By Object Type' in 'Marquesan Art in the Early Contact Period, 1774–1821. [JC 14 3 2015]

Search terms: Ornament, Ear Ornament

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