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1887.1.472

Pandanus fan with wooden handle bound with dark brown plaited plant fibre and pandanus leaf in a pattern of rectangles. [LKG 25/09/2009]

1887.1.472

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Collection type
Object
Description
Pandanus fan with wooden handle bound with dark brown plaited plant fibre and pandanus leaf in a pattern of rectangles. [LKG 25/09/2009]
Long description
Pandanus fan with wooden handle bound with dark brown plaited plant fibre and pandanus leaf in a pattern of rectangles. These rectangles are arranged in columns running parallel down the length of the handle. The fan itself is roughly triangular with the point at the head of the fan. The edges of the two upper sides have been woven in a different style to the majority of the fan making a border of very regular geometric weave approximately 15 mm wide. [LKG 25/09/2009]
Geographical reference
Samoa
Oceania > Polynesia > Samoa
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1870
Date collected
By 1870
Acquisition information
Transferred: 1886
Materials and processes
Material Pandanus Plant, Material Plant Fibre, Material Pigment, Process Plaited, Process Basketry, Process Bound, Process Dyed
Dimensions
Width 274 mm, Length 467 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1887.1.472
Research and responses

There are at least 21 letters from S.J. Whitmee to George Rolleston in the George Rolleston archive (Ashmolean Museum). This includes one dated Nov. 6 1872 which refers to "a few articles of Ethnological interest" sent to Rolleston, including a fan from Samoa (Tuvalu), which I think may be this object. The letter reads: "Sir, I was deliberating a few days ago where to send a few articles of Ethnological interest now in my possession, in order to make the best use of them. A note in "Nature" of May 23rd on your efforts to extend the ethnological collection in the Ashmolean Museum confirmed a previously formed resolution to send them to Oxford. I am accordingly now sending, under the care of the Rev. J. King, of the Samoan Mission, the articles specified in the accompanying list. Mr King will probably reach England about May or June next. The articles form part of a rather large collection which I made during a cruise in the Pacific two years ago - the major portion of which has already been distributed amongst colonial and continental museums & private friends...". A copy of this letter and the accompanying list are now in the RDF. [AS 08/03/2012]

For the collector's account of his voyage in the Pacific in 1870, see A Missionary Cruise in the South Pacific...among the Tokelau, Ellice and Gilbert Islands, in the Missionary Barque 'John Williams', during 1870, by Samuel James Whitmee (Sydney: Joseph Cook & Co., Sydney, 1871). [AP 27/2/2003; JC 26 8 2009]

Search terms: Fan, Basketry

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