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Lot Essay
Captain Cook collected several examples of this type of necklace on his third voyage. We can see some of these illustrated in the drawings rendered by Sarah Stone in 1783 as she recorded examples from that voyage that entered the Leverian Museum in fig. 2 (Force, M. and Force, R., Art and Artifacts of the 18th Century: Objects in the Leverian Museum as Painted by Sarah Stone. Honolulu, Bishop Museum, 1968).
The hook-shaped pendants known as lei niho palaoa were worn by Hawaiian chiefs and those of high rank, ali’i, as marks of their descent from the gods and nobility. An element of formal regalia for both sexes, the necklaces were worn on important occasions. See for example the painting of High Chief Boki and his wife High Chieftess Liliha by John Hayter (ca. 1824; fig. 1); here we see Liliha in her lei niho palaoa. They were among the ali‘i who accompanied King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamehamalu to England in 1824. Due to the untimely death of Kamehameha II from the measles, Boki led the Hawaiian delegation to meet with King George IV and receive the King’s assurances of British protection for Hawai‘i from foreign intrusion. While in London, Boki and Liliha also posed for Hayter. In contrast to Kamehameha II and Kamehamalu, who wore European clothing for their portraits, Boki and Liliha dressed in traditional clothing, proudly wearing the insignia of their chiefly rank.
The necklaces were also worn by men in battle. The interpretation of the distinctive hook-shape remains uncertain, and probably has several layers of symbolism and meaning. It may represent a stylized tongue, and thereby the so-called ‘mouth of disrespect’ (see Kaeppler, A., Genealogy and Disrespect: A Study of Symbolism in Hawaiian. Images." Res 3, 1982), or alternatively, the crescent-shaped form may metaphorically allude to the role of the necklace as a vessel for supernatural power or mana. The color of the ivory – white - was symbolic of the ancestral realm and had important aesthetic draw in Hawaiian culture, as well as throughout Polynesia.
The pendants typically formed the centerpiece of necklaces made of a single continuous length of human hair braided into an eight-ply square cord, up to 1,700 feet long, gathered into two large coils (Buck, P. Arts and Crafts of Hawaii, 1957, p 537). Derived from the head, the most supernaturally powerful part of the body, hair was a sacred substance whose presence enhanced the mana of the necklace and its noble wearer.
The hook-shaped pendants known as lei niho palaoa were worn by Hawaiian chiefs and those of high rank, ali’i, as marks of their descent from the gods and nobility. An element of formal regalia for both sexes, the necklaces were worn on important occasions. See for example the painting of High Chief Boki and his wife High Chieftess Liliha by John Hayter (ca. 1824; fig. 1); here we see Liliha in her lei niho palaoa. They were among the ali‘i who accompanied King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamehamalu to England in 1824. Due to the untimely death of Kamehameha II from the measles, Boki led the Hawaiian delegation to meet with King George IV and receive the King’s assurances of British protection for Hawai‘i from foreign intrusion. While in London, Boki and Liliha also posed for Hayter. In contrast to Kamehameha II and Kamehamalu, who wore European clothing for their portraits, Boki and Liliha dressed in traditional clothing, proudly wearing the insignia of their chiefly rank.
The necklaces were also worn by men in battle. The interpretation of the distinctive hook-shape remains uncertain, and probably has several layers of symbolism and meaning. It may represent a stylized tongue, and thereby the so-called ‘mouth of disrespect’ (see Kaeppler, A., Genealogy and Disrespect: A Study of Symbolism in Hawaiian. Images." Res 3, 1982), or alternatively, the crescent-shaped form may metaphorically allude to the role of the necklace as a vessel for supernatural power or mana. The color of the ivory – white - was symbolic of the ancestral realm and had important aesthetic draw in Hawaiian culture, as well as throughout Polynesia.
The pendants typically formed the centerpiece of necklaces made of a single continuous length of human hair braided into an eight-ply square cord, up to 1,700 feet long, gathered into two large coils (Buck, P. Arts and Crafts of Hawaii, 1957, p 537). Derived from the head, the most supernaturally powerful part of the body, hair was a sacred substance whose presence enhanced the mana of the necklace and its noble wearer.