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Headdress (Uhikana)

late 19th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 352
The headdresses known as uhikana were among the most important forms of ceremonial regalia for chiefs in the southern Marquesas Islands. Worn on the forehead, uhikana consist of a fiber headband adorned with a central disk of pearl shell overlain with an openwork turtle-shell plaque. The designs on the present plaque are of the type known as the tiki star, in which the faces of six tiki (human images) radiate from a central disk. The original meaning of this motif is uncertain. However, some contemporary Marquesans state that the six faces symbolize the six inhabited islands of the Marquesan archipelago. The tiki star is also one of several Marquesan designs that appear in the art of the archipelago’s most famous expatriate resident, the French Post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Headdress (Uhikana)
  • Date: late 19th century
  • Geography: Marquesas Islands
  • Culture: Marquesan (Enata) people
  • Medium: Pearl shell, turtle shell, fiber
  • Dimensions: H. 6 × W. 14 × D. 6 1/2 in. (15.2 × 35.6 × 16.5 cm)
  • Classification: Shell-Ornaments
  • Credit Line: The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1964
  • Object Number: 1978.412.832
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

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Headdress (Pa'e Kaha), Shell, turtleshell, fiber, Marquesan (Enata) people
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Ivory Ear Ornaments (Hakakai), Whale ivory, Marquesan (Enata) people
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Suspended Bowl, Coconut shell, bone, seeds, fiber, Marquesan (Enata) people
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