Double-Roofed Portable Temple (bure kalou) Fiji, early 19th century

Double-Roofed Portable Temple (bure kalou) Fiji, early 19th century

Coir, wood, reed, and shells
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, E5037;
gift of Joseph Winn Jr., 1835

EX.8785.208 photo © Peabody Essex Museum, by Jeffrey Dykes

This is the earliest known portable temple, a unique example with a double roof and small white shells resembling the larger egg cowrie shells, Ovula ovum, that decorated full-size temples.