Te mwae nikabono

human history

Te mwae te nikabono. Neck ornament of conus shells. This te mwae (Neck ornament) consists of 6 nouo (conus shells) segments of varied size strung onto te nimwaerere (human hair and coconut sennit) and left untied. 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.

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

22988 (ethnology)

211 (Maude Collection)

Department

Pacific

Enquire API view