Gallery Label
This civavonovono is composed of whale tooth plates lashed tightly with fiber to fit flush with the attached pearl shell. The ornament’s decorative meaning is not specifically known, but it is a chiefly possession and a highly personal ornament. It probably was used in ceremonial dances and combat. It had attached fiber cords to hang around the neck and tie around the sides and back to keep it in place at the front of the body.
Ornaments such as this example were presented to a chief or other important person as a token of goodwill, loyalty, and reverence, as part of a birth, marriage, or death ceremony, or upon the departure or return from a long journey.
Fiji lies within the well-traveled areas of Polynesian waters, and as whaling and access to whale ivory increased during the eighteenth century, ivory objects like this ornament became more prolific. The complex treatment of the inlay here reflects the introduction of metal tools used in the carving process. This example is fit together with fiber, but as metal became more widely used, metal clasps replaced the traditional fiber. The fiber-lashing technique probably was adopted from neighboring Tongan canoe craftsmen.
