Marquesan, French Polynesia
18th century or earlier
Ivory
Length: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) and 2 in. (5.1 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, Brussels
Ear ornaments of this type were worn by men and women of rank in the Marquesas Islands, where personal adornment carried social and cosmological significance and the quality of an individual's ornaments reflected their status within the community. Ivory ear pendants with figural carvings at the terminal are among the more elaborately worked examples of this category, requiring sustained skill to execute at small scale. This pair, dated to the eighteenth century or earlier, comes from a private Brussels collection.
Each ornament is carved from ivory in a curved, elongated form tapering toward the insertion end, with a figural group carved at the broad terminal. One terminal depicts a copulating couple, a subject found in Marquesan carving in contexts understood to carry ritual and generative meaning rather than purely erotic intent. The two pieces differ slightly in length, consistent with asymmetric pairs documented in the literature.
This item contains ESA antique exempt ivory and cannot be sold internationally, or to anyone residing in the states of California, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. We guarantee that it was made prior to 1972. We ship free within the United States, fully insured, packed by hand..
Marquesan, French Polynesia
18th century or earlier
Ivory
Length: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) and 2 in. (5.1 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, Brussels
Ear ornaments of this type were worn by men and women of rank in the Marquesas Islands, where personal adornment carried social and cosmological significance and the quality of an individual's ornaments reflected their status within the community. Ivory ear pendants with figural carvings at the terminal are among the more elaborately worked examples of this category, requiring sustained skill to execute at small scale. This pair, dated to the eighteenth century or earlier, comes from a private Brussels collection.
Each ornament is carved from ivory in a curved, elongated form tapering toward the insertion end, with a figural group carved at the broad terminal. One terminal depicts a copulating couple, a subject found in Marquesan carving in contexts understood to carry ritual and generative meaning rather than purely erotic intent. The two pieces differ slightly in length, consistent with asymmetric pairs documented in the literature.
This item contains ESA antique exempt ivory and cannot be sold internationally, or to anyone residing in the states of California, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. We guarantee that it was made prior to 1972. We ship free within the United States, fully insured, packed by hand..
