Mask with Human Hair
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1840
name: label: Collector
content: United States Exploring Expedition
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: "MATAVULO" HELMET-MASK MADE OF AN INNER BASKETRY WORK OF A RATTAN LIKE CREEPER (WALAKI VINE) TO WHICH IS SEWN A REALISTIC FACE MADE OF COCONUT BAST WITH TUFTS OF HUMAN HAIR FOR A BEARD AND MUSTACHE. THE TOP IS COVERED WITH TIGHTLY CURLED BLACK HUMAN HAIR. THERE ARE TWO BURNT OUT EYE HOLES AND A TUBULAR NOSE. USED DURING CLUB DANCES. PUBLICATION: "DOMODOMO," FIJIAN MUSEUM QUARTERLY, JUNE 1983:1. ALSO SEE "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," VIOLA AND MARGOLIS, 1985, P. 123, WHERE COLLECTION OF THIS OBJECT AND E2914 IS DESCRIBED, AND "NARRATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION," VOL. III, P. 384, CHARLES WILKES, 1845, WHICH APPEARS TO BE AN ILLUSTRATION OF E2914. EXAMINED BY KENNETH P. EMORY, BISHOP MUSEUM, JUNE 1941. EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86.
label: Notes
content: Illustrated Fig. 689, p. 152 in Hooper, Steven, and Adi Meretu Ratunabuabua. 2016. Fiji art and life in the Pacific. Norwich: Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas. Identified there: Matavulo (Mask). A face made of coconut leaf reticulum (vulo), reddened wtih mineral color, is fixed to a rigid wickerwork frame, to which are tied clumps of human hair with back and reddish coloring. The nose is made from a roll of reticulum.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 20 Mar 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Levuka, Ovalau Island, Lomaiviti Province, Fiji, Melanesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Fijian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E2910-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask