Skip Navigation

Ornament (Kapkap)

Arts of the Pacific Islands

MEDIUM Cone shell, tortoise shell, fiber string
DATES 19th or early 20th century
DIMENSIONS 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 x 1/8 in. (3.2 x 3.2 x 0.3 cm)  (show scale)
INSCRIPTIONS Paper labels glued to the back read "Beasley Coll" "Br 836" "Admiralty Group 3061B" under it reads "Br 836" written in black ink directly on the shell
ACCESSION NUMBER 87.218.99
CREDIT LINE Gift of Marcia and John Friede and Mrs. Melville W. Hall
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Hair ornament (kap-kap) made of brown-spotted, white shell disc incised with crosshatched triangles along outer top edge. Attached to it by long fiber string through center hold is very thin smaller tortoiseshell disc with center circle and X-motif, as well as simple but fine radiating foliate openwork pattern. From catalogue cards: Ornament ("kap-kap"); white shell disc (with brown spots) incised with crosshatched triangles along outer top edge. Very thin tortoiseshell disc tied on through center hole with long fiber string to the front of the white shell disc. Tortoiseshell is openwork in simple but fine radiating foliate pattern with X motif in center circle. Condition: Good except that one band of tortoiseshell openwork is broken. Paper labels glued to back: "Beasley Collection," "Br 836," and "Admiralty Group 3061B"
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Ornament (Kapkap), 19th or early 20th century. Cone shell, tortoise shell, fiber string, 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 x 1/8 in. (3.2 x 3.2 x 0.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcia and John Friede and Mrs. Melville W. Hall, 87.218.99. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 87.218.99_bw.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 87.218.99_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
 <em>Ornament (Kapkap)</em>, 19th or early 20th century. Cone shell, tortoise shell, fiber string, 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 x 1/8 in. (3.2 x 3.2 x 0.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcia and John Friede and Mrs. Melville W. Hall, 87.218.99. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 87.218.99_bw.jpg)