Joe Loux. | Solomon Islands Currency Roll (Tevau)
A private gallery in San Francisco featuring Asian and Tribal Art, ethnographic jewelry and textiles.
Tribal art, Oceanic art, ethnic jewelry, Southeast Asian art, tribal shields, Indonesian, art, New Guinea art, Indian gold, Polynesian clubs, Nepal tribal art, tribal textiles, Southwest Chinese art, Moroccan textiles, Pyu gold, Ainu textiles, Yi objects, ancient gold, Inuit art, Paiwan, ancient beads, Nepal mask, tribal figures
25940
portfolio_page-template-default,single,single-portfolio_page,postid-25940,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,select-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,select-theme-ver-4.2,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-7.3,vc_responsive
Solomon Islands Currency Roll (Tevau).
Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands
Late 19th-early 20th century
Feathers, fiber, bark, seeds, shell, glass beads, leaves
On mount: 33″ (w) x 2 1/2″ (d)
SOLD
Tevau measure around thirty feet in length and consist of up to 60,000 red feathers of the scarlet honey-eater. The feathers are attached to a series of overlapping plates attached to a coil of fiber. They are used to buy commodities such as canoes, pigs and various forms of labor. The tevau were made exclusively by hereditary specialists, whose skills were believed to derive from ancestral spirits.
When not in use, the coils were protected with palm leaves and bark cloth, with powerful charms placed over the tevau to provide spiritual protection.
