Tattoo Pattern

Flat piece of wood carved to leave a pattern in high relief. The block is inked and pressed onto the skin as a guide for the tattooing. Double scroll motif used, above a vertical rectangular pattern, on the front of a woman's thigh. This is a five-line version, for a woman of high class. The more lines the higher the class, so this is for a woman of somewhat higher class than the very similar P234, which has four lines. Comparable examples illustrated in Hose and Shelford are from Uma Pliau, on the Baram River.