ETHOC 041789

ornements d’oreilles masculins hakakai ou ha’akai

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041789
Hakakai or ha'akai man's ear ornaments
French Polynesia, Marquesas Islands
Early 20th century
Sperm-whale ivory. H 10,5 cm, 10,3 cm
Gift of the painter Émile Chambon in 1981
MEG Inv. ETHOC 041789
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In the Marquesas Islands, these ornaments, smaller for the women and larger for the men, were inserted in the ear lobes. The disc was placed in front, and the figure at the back, of the ear. A peg pushed through a hole in the base of the spur kept the disc pressed tightly against the earlobe.

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Registres d'inventaires historiques

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Inventaire original MEG. Registres tapuscrits, volumes 19 à 59
Registres_tapuscrits/41789 -A-B.pdf

 

French Polynesia

French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the French Republic, is composed of about 118 volcanic or coral islands, grouped in five archipelagos: the Society Islands, the Marquesas Islands, the Austral Islands, the Gambier Islands and the Tuamotu Islands.

Despite their political ties to France, the people of these archipelagos have and express a strong sense of their Polynesian identity.

Signs of rank, power and prestige

Works from this part of the world give us the opportunity to address the issues of power and prestige and show the communicative capacity of art. Ornamental objects such as jewellery and accessories, as well as weapons, can become status symbols and reveal the codes that distinguish human beings, signalling the gender, age group and rank of the wearer.

Bibliograpy

  • 1976. Océanie: un art de la vie. Marcq-en-Baroeul : Fondation Anne et Albert Prouvost, Page 139, MEG OC 626
  • Force, Roland W. [1971]. The Fuller collection of Pacific artifacts. New York ; Washington : Praeger Publishers, Page 104, MEG Carl-Vogt, OC 637
  • Gathercole, Peter. 1979. The art of the Pacific islands. Washington : National Gallery of Art, Page 128, MEG Carl-Vogt, OC 632
  • Colombo Dougoud, Roberta. 2014. Les collections Océanie. In: Regards sur les collections. Genève: Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, 236

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