Cord Handle

This decorated cord handle from a coconut shell or gourd container features carved bone toggles depicting important ancestors or deities. These toggles exhibit some of the defining characteristics of Marquesan figurative sculpture, including large, rounded eyes, a wide nose, a broad, thin mouth with a slightly protruding tongue, double scroll ears, and hands placed on a swelling belly.

• Medium: Bone, seeds, coir
• Geographical Location: Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia
• Dates: 18th or 19th century
• Dimensions: 23 1/4 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. (59.1 x 3.8 x 3.2 cm) For display: 12 x 6 x 1 1/4 in. (30.5 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm)
• Collection: Arts of the Pacific Islands
• Museum Location: Brooklyn Museum, BMA, 5H1, 10E
• Accession Number: 38.638
• Image: 38.638_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 0,

Catalogue Description:
Calabash cord with a tiki of human bone and 5 black seeds on each side. Condition: good. Cord of braided sennit used to suspend coconut containers. Ornaments of bone and seeds strung on cord.