- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Breast ornament of pearl shell surrounded by pieces of sperm whale tooth, also inlaid with pieces of sperm whale tooth, all rivetted together. [El.B 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 27/2/2006]
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 12/1923
- Date collected
- By December 1923
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1923
- Materials and processes
- Material Whale Tooth Animal, Material Animal Ivory Tooth, Material Pearl Shell, Material Lead Metal, Material String, Process Riveted, Process Carved, Process Inlaid
- Dimensions
- Diameter: max 215 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1923.50.1
- Research and responses
See page 144 of Pacific Jewelry and Adornment by Roger Neich and Fuli Pereira (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004) for two similar breastplates, which are described as follows: 'Civavonovono, Chief's Breastplate, Fiji. These civavonovono, said to have been made by Tongan and Samoan craftsman for Fijian chiefs, have evolved from the large whalebone breastplates seen in Tonga by James Cook and his company. They were worn suspended from the neck, and a cord also ran across the back of the breastplate so they could be held rigid against the body during dancing and in combat. As a lone ornament, civa, or polished pearl shell, symbolised chiefly status; and in the 1800s its symbolism was enhanced when whale teeth plates were attached to encase the pearl shell.' On page 18 of the same publication the authors note that 'teeth from sperm whales stranded in Tonga were transported by Tongan sailors to Fiji where they were shaped into necklaces and breastplates, apparently by resident Tongan and Samoan craftsmen.' [ZM 13/05/2015]
Search terms: Ornament, Cordage, Breast Ornament, Cord