Gourd (ipu hue wai pāwehe)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.In the earliest origin stories of Hawai’i, the progenitor Wakea (Tahiti: Atea; Tonga: Vatea) used the skin of a gourd to create the first sphere of the sky. Casting the pulp into the air, he forged the sun. The seeds became the stars, the inner white lining the moon, the ripe flesh the clouds, and the succulent juices the rain. Gourds, often embellished with streamers of white barkcloth and sprigs of fern foliage, were also worn as masks by priests during rituals associated with the god Lono.
Artwork Details
- Title: Gourd (ipu hue wai pāwehe)
- Date: Early 19th century
- Geography: United States, Hawai'ian Islands
- Medium: Gourd, pigment
- Dimensions: H. 13 in. (33 cm)
- Classification: Gourd
- Credit Line: Private collection, Mark Blackburn, Honolulu, Hawai'i
- Rights and Reproduction: Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing