Nauru, Micronesia
Circa 1890
Coral beads, fiber cord, dried leaf, carved figure attachments
Height: 12 inches (30.5 cm); Width: 8 inches (20.3 cm) including frame
Provenance: Purchased from Sacred Heart Mission, SVD, Hiltrup, Germany, 1963; L. Van Busel, Amsterdam, 1963; Anne Vanderstaete, Brussels, 1966; Zaira and Marcel Mis, Brussels; Marcuson and Hall, Brussels
Personal adornment on Nauru in the 19th century reflected the island's marine environment and its women's tradition of fiber arts, with coral beads, dried plant materials, and organic attachments combined into necklaces that carried social and ceremonial meaning within the community. This example is strung with a sequence of rounded coral beads on braided fiber cord, with dried leaf and small carved figure attachments at the clasp end. An old museum collection label is suspended from the center of the strand, and the piece is presented in a custom archival frame consistent with European institutional display practice of the mid 20th century.
The provenance of this necklace begins with the Sacred Heart Mission SVD in Hiltrup, Germany, acquired in 1963 at the point of the mission's withdrawal from Micronesia following the post World War I transfer of German island territories. Four subsequent collections in Amsterdam and Brussels document over five decades of careful European custody, and the chain of ownership is among the more thoroughly documented for any Nauru object currently on the market. The old inventory label attached to the necklace is consistent with mission or museum collection practice of the period.
Nauru adornment objects of this age and provenance depth are seldom encountered outside institutional holdings, and the Sacred Heart Mission collection is recognized as one of the primary sources of documented Micronesian material in Western collections, portions of which entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art through related provenance channels. The combination of coral beads, fiber cord, dried organic materials, and carved figure attachments preserved together in original condition represents the full material vocabulary of Nauruan personal ornament as it existed in the late 19th century. The archival framing and unbroken ownership record from 1963 to the present make this one of the more fully contextualized pieces of Nauruan adornment available to collectors.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Nauru, Micronesia
Circa 1890
Coral beads, fiber cord, dried leaf, carved figure attachments
Height: 12 inches (30.5 cm); Width: 8 inches (20.3 cm) including frame
Provenance: Purchased from Sacred Heart Mission, SVD, Hiltrup, Germany, 1963; L. Van Busel, Amsterdam, 1963; Anne Vanderstaete, Brussels, 1966; Zaira and Marcel Mis, Brussels; Marcuson and Hall, Brussels
Personal adornment on Nauru in the 19th century reflected the island's marine environment and its women's tradition of fiber arts, with coral beads, dried plant materials, and organic attachments combined into necklaces that carried social and ceremonial meaning within the community. This example is strung with a sequence of rounded coral beads on braided fiber cord, with dried leaf and small carved figure attachments at the clasp end. An old museum collection label is suspended from the center of the strand, and the piece is presented in a custom archival frame consistent with European institutional display practice of the mid 20th century.
The provenance of this necklace begins with the Sacred Heart Mission SVD in Hiltrup, Germany, acquired in 1963 at the point of the mission's withdrawal from Micronesia following the post World War I transfer of German island territories. Four subsequent collections in Amsterdam and Brussels document over five decades of careful European custody, and the chain of ownership is among the more thoroughly documented for any Nauru object currently on the market. The old inventory label attached to the necklace is consistent with mission or museum collection practice of the period.
Nauru adornment objects of this age and provenance depth are seldom encountered outside institutional holdings, and the Sacred Heart Mission collection is recognized as one of the primary sources of documented Micronesian material in Western collections, portions of which entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art through related provenance channels. The combination of coral beads, fiber cord, dried organic materials, and carved figure attachments preserved together in original condition represents the full material vocabulary of Nauruan personal ornament as it existed in the late 19th century. The archival framing and unbroken ownership record from 1963 to the present make this one of the more fully contextualized pieces of Nauruan adornment available to collectors.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
