Figure

Figure carved from sperm whale tooth. Holes in back of head may have been drilled for suspension. Left shoulder and arm broken off and mended with iron pins. Collected in Fiji but possibly made in Tonga. One of a handful of small whale ivory figures collected in Fiji and Tonga during the second half of the 19th century. Little is known about the function and significance of these figures: they seem to have been objects of reverence, but not worship.