Te mwae

Te mwae. Neck ornament. This mwae is worn around one’s neck. It is made of four material components: small circular discs of dark brown te nana (coconut shell) and sea shell discs of te nouo (conus shell), eight cut whales teeth in an off-white, ivory tone and a very thin strand of two-ply te kora (cordage of coconut sennit fibres) in an off-white tone. The whales teeth are varied in size, cylindrical in form with tapered soft points. Where they have been cut reveals a range of hollow cavities and a series of perforations across the cut edge where te kora has been threaded. A patterned series of circular te nana and te nouo are beaded in between the whale tooth pendants. It is short in length showing how close it would have been worn to the neck and head area. The neck ornament is continuous with no opening. A twisted yarn of te kora has been used to secure a whale tooth pendant externally from the beaded disc strand.