Loan (Exhibition)
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UEA, Norwich, October 15 2016- February 12 2017, Fiji: Art and Life in the Pacific
Event Date
Author: maa

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Context (Display)
Exhibited in 'The Proper Study of Mankind: Great Anthropological Collections in Cambridge' (known at MAA as the 'Centenary Exhibition') at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 12 March - 06 May 1984.
Event Date 12/3/1984
Author: Lucie Carreau

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Description (CMS Description)
Necklace of shell pendants and ivory fishes.
Event Date 1/6/1996
Author: maa

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Context (CMS Context)
This object was brought out of the stores for the visit of the President of Fiji, His Excellency Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, and the Fijian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Mr Solo Mara on 28 July 2012.
Event Date 28/07/2012
Author: Lucie Carreau

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Context (CMS Context)
This object was brought out of the stores for the visit of the Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, and the Fijian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Mr Solo Mara on 26 November 2012.
Event Date 26/11/2012
Author: Lucie Carreau

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Context (CMS Context)
Catalogue card 1 reads: [stamped in black ink:] 'Z 2770 FIJI'. [typed:] 'Necklace of shell pendants and ivory fishes'. [added in blue pen:] 'The necklace consists of 19 strings of white + black shell discs to the bottom of which are attached 18 ivory fish + other miscellaneous pieces of ivory'. [typed:] 'A. H. Gordon circa 1875.' [in pencil in the bottom left corner:] '1/222'. [in black ink:] '(Centenary Exhibition)'. [stamped in blue ink:] 'SHOW CASE NUMBER 1'. A round red sticker pasted on the card.
Catalogue card 2 reads: [handwritten in black ink:] 'Z 2770. Necklace of shells pendants and ivory fishes. 1/222. Show Case number 1.' [added in blue pen:] 'C. 1875 & D Sir Arthur GORDON'.
Event Date 26/9/2012
Author: Lucie Carreau

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Description (CMS Description)
Necklace of plaited hibiscus (possibly combined with ?European string or ?vegetable fibre); the plaited cord has been wound around a central fibre core to create a thick semi-circular section, knotted at each end with loosely twisted lengths of plaited ?European string or ?vegetable fibre extending to form the cords that tie around the neck. 19 lengths of plaited ?vegetable fibre or ?European string closely strung with white shell beads hang from the semi circular section. One bead carved from whale tooth is placed near the end of each shell-bead length followed by a small section of shell beads; these whale tooth beads vary in shape between circular, rectangular and square. Each length then terminates in a whale tooth carved in the shape of a fish. The fish carving has a bead shaped projection extending from the head, some of which have one or two lines carved around them, through which a hole has been drilled to pass the plaited cord through. The fifth shell-bead length from the left has two small sections of dark beads (one in the centre and one between the whale tooth bead and the fish carving) probably carved from coconut. The fish carving has broken off just below the bead shaped projection on the sixth shell-bead length from the left and there is also no whale tooth bead on this length. The seventh shell-bead length from the left has one dark coconut bead half way down the length. The eighth shell-bead length from the left has one dark ?coconut bead immediately above the fish carving.
Event Date 26/9/2012
Author: maa

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Context (CMS Context)
Z 2770 is represented in Constance Gordon Cumming's drawing, D 98871.GCUM. There are a number of discrepancies between Constance's illustration and the object. Hibiscus plaited cord has been wound around a central fibre core to create a thick semi circular section, knotted at each end with loosely twisted lengths of plaited ?European string or ?vegetable fibre extending to form the cords that tie around the neck. The illustration shows a slightly smaller semi-circular construction without the loosely twisted lengths of plaited cord. The following is noted at the bottom of the drawing "strung on coconut fibre" - no coconut fibre is currently visible on the object. There are 19 lengths of plaited cord closely strung with white shell beads; the illustration shows 16 lengths. The following lengths are not illustrated: fourth from the right, fourth from the left and eighth from the left. The fifth length from the left has 29 dark coloured beads (probably made from coconut) and the illustration shows 20 dark coloured beads. The fish carvings and whale tooth beads represented in the illustration closely match the object (observations by Heather Donoghue, Intern on the Fiji Art Research Project, 7 June 2011).
Event Date 26/9/2012
Author: Lucie Carreau

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Context (CMS Context)
Labels & inscriptions: 'Z 2770' inscribed in black ink on one of the fish.
Event Date 31/1/2013
Author: Lucie Carreau

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Context (CMS Context)
Exhibited: 'Chiefs & Governors: Art and power in Fiji', Cambridge MAA, 7 June 2013 - 19 April 2014.
Event Date 25/4/2014
Author: Remke van der Velden

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Conservation (Assessment Only)
CON.2015.1946 | Assessment Only
Event Date 23/7/2015
Author: rah99

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Description (CMS Description)
Necklace with shell beads and ivory fish pendants.
Event Date 7/12/2016
Author: maa

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Conservation ()
CON.2014.132 |
Event Date 1/3/2016
Author: maa

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Conservation (Soft Mount )
CON.2016.3514 | Soft Mount
Event Date 18/8/2016
Author: Rachel Howie

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Context (Analysis)
A woven collar with 19 strands of white shell beads suspended. All but one have a carved ivory fish suspended at the end. There are also single large ivory beads on each strand.
Most of the white shell beads are visibly made of Anadara, and a mix of Anadara granosa and Anadara antiquata. The former, inasfar as it occurs at all in Fiji, is uncommon. There are also multiple white beads of other unidentified materials, the most common of which has brown striped patterning on the outer surface. It's multi-layered large shell, and could be crossed-lamellar bivalve (e.g. Glycymeris) or gastropod (e.g. Lambis or Fasciolaria).
Further large individual shell beads are also made on large crossed-lamellar multi-layered shells, but are fully ground and shaped in a way that accords with trade beads. I haven't seen these before in the Pacific.
Event Date 13/11/2017
Author: Katherine Szabo

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Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2018.4138 | Remedial
Event Date 12/6/2018
Author: Christina Rozeik

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Loan (Exhibition)
Royal Academy of Arts, 14/09/2018 to 09/12/2018, Oceania
Event Date 14/9/2018
Author: Rachel Hand

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Loan (Exhibition)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 15/12/2019 to 19/07/2020, Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific
Event Date 15/12/2019
Author: Katrina Dring

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Loan (Exhibition)
Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris , 11/03/2019 to 07/07/2019, Oceanie
Event Date 11/3/2019
Author: rachel hand

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Loan (Exhibition)
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachussetts, 12/09/2020 to 03/01/2021, Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific
Event Date 12/9/2020
Author: Katrina Dring