Te Kohinga Tangata
Collection Record
Earring
For hundreds of years, the Iban people have carved the highly prized beaks of the Helmeted hornbill bird into jewellery, such as the earring and ear ornament displayed here., The Iban also traded unprocessed Helmeted hornbill beaks with the Chinese people, exchanging the beaks for beads, iron, cash, crockery and large decorative jars. The Chinese coloured the beaks using the preen gland o f the Helmeted hornbill and carved them into belt buckles for high ranking officials. In the 14th century, the Chinese regarded Helmeted hornbill beaks as more valuable than jade.
Provenance Place:
Sarawak, Malaysia
D65.1115
Details
- Provenance Place
- Sarawak, Malaysia
- Measurements
- 20 x 43 x 41mm
- Credit Line
- Association of Friends of the Museum; Tūhura Otago Museum Collection
- Rights
- CC BY/Creative Commons
- Department
- World
- Accession Number
- D65.1115
- On Display
- No
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