Details

IPSMG:R.1921.93.1

Ipswich Collections

skull, decorated

Human skull of a man overmodelled with vegetable putty, painted black and inlaid with pearlshell to demonstrate facial tattoos. The eyes are pearlshell inlay with blue glass beads for the pupils. A pink spondylus shell disc necklace, white cone shell rings in each ear, a white shell strung through a turtleshell ring through the septum, rolled card tubes with red stripes through the middle of each ear. The hair has been dyed ginger with lime. The lips are parted bearing the teeth. The skull has been fitted onto a wooden bust, possibly at the request of the collector. In Solomon Islands skulls were preserved by the deceased man’s family as a memorial. It has been suggested that some were specifically commissioned by collectors, and given Rodwell’s exalted colonial position, may have been the case in this instance. Collected and donated by Sir Cecil Hunter-Rodwell, Govenor of Fiji and High Commissioner of the Western Pacific 1918-1924.

Melanesia, Solomon Islands, Isabel

20th Century, early, 20th Century

human remains, teeth, wood, putty, pearlshell, white cone shell, spondylus shell, turtleshell, glass, human hair, card, pigment