Neck ornament of multiple strings of plaited hair with a hook-shaped pendant of whale tooth.

Collection type: Object
Description: Neck ornament of multiple strings of plaited hair with a hook-shaped pendant of whale tooth.
Geographical reference: Hawaiian Islands (United States of America)
Oceania > Polynesia > Hawaiian Islands (United States of America)
Person: Field collector Frederick William Beechey; Field collector HMS Blossom; PRM source Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Date / Period: Date made: On or before 1828
Date collected: 1825 - 1828
Acquisition information: Transferred: 10/02/1886
Materials and processes: Material Whale Tooth Animal, Material Hair, Process Plaited, Process Perforated
Dimensions: Length: max 400 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1886.1.1270 Other numbers: 141
Associated publications: This object was featured in the Museum’s ‘web gallery’ (‘Selected Objects from the Lower Gallery’) produced during the DCF-funded ‘What’s Upstairs?’ project, 2004–2006, with the following caption: ‘This large neck ornament from the Hawaiian Islands in Polynesia is made from plaited human hair, with a hook-shaped whale’s tooth suspended from the centre. This object was collected in the early nineteenth century, when Hawaiian society was very hierarchical. Both men and women of high status wore these neck ornaments, known as lei niho palaoa, as signs of rank. They were particularly valued because of their use of hair, which had great spiritual importance.