Descriptions

Acquired by 1st Lieutenant Francis Godolphin Bond on the HMS Providence, which arrived in Matavai Bay, Tahiti, on 9 April 1792. Bond donated this costume to the Devon and Exeter Institution in 1815, of which he was a proprietor. This gift was recorded in the D&EI committee meeting minutes. The Devon & Exeter Institution presented this costume to the Albert Memorial Museum in 1872.

A Tahitian chief possessed great social status but also charged with great spiritual power called mana. Upon the death of a chief their body was treated accordingly and mounted on biers shrouded in fine white barkcloth. Relatives would gather around the bier and mourn.

A senior relative would appear in a mourner’s costume (heva tupapa’u) to lead a spectacular procession, accompanied by family members with their skins blackened with soot. Pearl-shell clappers would warn people as the procession approached to withdraw or conceal themselves. Otherwise they could face being attacked or injured with a sword edged with shark teeth.

Anne D’Alleva, 1994
“Pearl shell, turtle shell, fibre, tropic bird feathers. Mask composed of two large pearl shells, joined by fibre, surmounted by squares of turtle shell and pearl shell attached with fibre. Crowned by large pearl shell with a rectangular section of turtle shell sewn in centre, the whole rimmed with tropic bird feathers.”


This object is on display at RAMM in the World Cultures gallery.