A Tongan Tapua in the Pitt Rivers Museum: Historiographical Notes and Curatorial Reflections

Authors

  • Jeremy Coote Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.123.4.399-420

Keywords:

Tonga, tapua, whale teeth, museum collections, documentation

Abstract

In a recent account, in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, of Tongan tapua—“polished ivory shrinesâ€â€”Fergus Clunie refers to an example in the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum as being “tenuously provenanced†to Cook’s voyages. A detailed discussion of the tapua’s documentation is provided to demonstrate how this “tenuous†provenance has no basis in fact, before other possible histories are considered.

Author Biography

Jeremy Coote, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Jeremy Coote is Curator and Joint Head of Collections at the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum, where he has worked since 1994. Since joining the museum his research has focused on the history of its early collections, particularly those from Africa and the Pacific.

Cover for Journal of the Polynesian Society Vol. 123, No. 4

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Published

2015-03-20

Issue

Vol. 123 No. 4 (2014)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright © 2024 by the Polynesian Society (Inc.)

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process without written permission.

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Dr Marcia Leenen-Young, Editor
The Polynesian Society
c/o School of Māori and Pacific Studies
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019, Auckland
New Zealand

email: m.leenen@auckland.ac.nz