Te mwae te nikabono

human history

Te mwae te nikabono. Neck ornament of conus shells. This te mwae (Neck ornament) consists of 14 nouo (conus shells) segments strung onto light brown te kora (coconut sennit) and tied together at the ends. Each segment has been sliced off from the base of the nouo shell creating a flat disc shape that is slightly convex on the outer surface and has the raised spiral ridges of the shell visible on the reverse side. The nouo shells are off-white in colour with natural dark spiralled speckling. A perforation at the side edge of each of these shells has been drilled for te kora to thread through. The size of these nouo discs increase in size towards the centre of the Neck ornament, at which is centred the largest nouo. Small discs of te nana (coconut shell) of a dark brown colour have also been interspersed, attached on the string. The nana are a dark brown colour.

Accession number: 1936.295 Last Update: 30 Nov 2018
Other Name

Neck ornament of conus shells (English)

Accession Number

1936.295

Accession Date

1936

Other Id

23972 (ethnology)

Department

Pacific

Enquire API view
10 Images
Te mwae te nikabono; 1936.295; 23972; Cultural Permissions Apply Cultural Permissions Apply
View gallery ( 10)