Double Figure hook

Double Figure hook

Fiji/Tonga, 18th to early 19th century

Sperm whale ivory, fiber, and glass beads
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,
University of Cambridge: 1955.247
Collected by Sir Arthur Gordon, Viti Levu, 1876

EX.8785.129 photo reproduced by permission of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Documentation from the collector indicates that this ivory hook was considered a powerful image, representing the “double wife of the chief god of Nadi district (western Viti Levu).” With the introduction of Christianity, such images were given up to missionaries and colonial officers.