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headdress, head decoration
Unknown
Museum of Ethnography
Stockholm, Sweden
En större dekoration byggd av monterade mörka fjädrar. Detta avslutas i var sida med brett flätat växtfiberband på vilket benbitar samt en tand hänger.
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Details
- Title: headdress, head decoration
- Creator: Unknown
- Location Created: Franska Polynesien, Marquesasöarna
- Physical Dimensions: 23 cm
- External Link: Link to source
- Text till utställningen Avian Allies: This headdress, one of the few of its kind, would have been a valuable heirloom, one that indicated the status and wealth of its owner. Rooster feathers, as well as those from other birds, and whale ivory were important and valuable materials for Marquesan Islanders. Black, iridescent tail feathers and plumage from roosters, along with their red coloured neck feathers, were used to decorate various types of headdresses. As such, roosters were highly prized and well cared for. Each rooster had two long tail feathers which, when plucked, would grow back. Some Marquesan headdresses have so many rooster tail feathers attached that it could take several years to acquire the feathers needed to decorate them. Prestigious ornaments like this were worn by male or female dancers at ceremonial events or various festivals. Worn on the top of the head or across the temples, this crescent shaped headdress comprises finely trimmed cock feathers have been carefully tied into small bundles. The bundles have been bound onto a fibre base and arranged so that the feathers fall in the same direction, creating a lustrous surface to catch the light when the headdress was danced. Where the main body of the headdress meets the ties, through which the headdress is secured to the head, small red and green coloured feathers have been added along with decorative stitching of fine coconut fibre cord. These ties are further embellished with eighteen small whales’ teeth, one of which has split. Whale ivory was a rare and highly prized material in Marquesan society. When European traders and whalers began to visit the islands more frequently in the early to mid-nineteenth century, whale teeth became a favoured trade item leading to an increase in the availability of ivory.
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