Click for larger image 
Click for larger image 
Artifact Number:
 1978.271.001

Object:
Drum
Pahu 'upa 'upa

Material:
 plant (coconut), skin (shark)

Dimensions:
 46 x 27 x 27 cm

Origin:
 Tahiti, Society Islands, Polynesia

Comments:
 Drum. Dark brown coconut wood, well polished. Drum head resembles shark skin and extends over the sides, held on by 15 strands of braided sennit, tied at the base. Base has 7 cut out rectangles with 7 small legs between the base and body. Legs are concave facing outward, as is the base. Only three other similar drums are at present known to exist (per Accession file). (Duty Free Shoppers provided BPBM funds -- Bid on by Hewett at the request of BPBM with $15,000 taken from reside of Hooper Auction (ca. $1,400); Wright bowl exchange (ca. $5,000) and Ethnology Purchase Fund (4-xxx-31-4797). Amount over $15,000 was a gift from Mr. Hewett. -- Purchased as Lot 208 at the George Ortiz Auction, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 29 June 1978. -- Per Ortiz auction catalog: "Collected during a tour of mission stations by Rev. George Bennet, a member of the London Missionary Society who was a resident in Polynesia, 1821-24")



Collection Name

© Bishop Museum. All Rights Reserved.
All media are for the personal use of students, scholars and the public. Any commercial use or publication of them is strictly prohibited.

BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP MUSEUM
The State Museum of Natural and Cultural History
1525 Bernice Street
Honolulu Hawai`i 96817-2704 USA