Pacific Jewelry and Adornment

This magnificent book showcases more than 250 of the finest examples of traditional jewelry from the Pacific. Myriad designs and materials, including jade, whale teeth and bone, shark teeth, tapa, shells, and plant fibers, are woven together in a skillful combination of color and craftsmanship. Apart from their beauty, these personal items also convey information about power, status, and community. Their significance, the ceremonies in which they are worn, and the messages they convey are explored in an illuminating introductory essay.

Drawing on the extensive collections of the Auckland Museum, the jewelry shown here represents a vast geographical area: Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Niue, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand. The amazing variety of styles and materials reflects the lifestyles, preoccupations, and imperatives of a people surrounded by the largest ocean on the planet.

• Roger Neich, Author

  Roger Neich is curator of ethnology at the Auckland Museum and professor of anthropology at the University of Auckland.

• Fuli Pereira, Author

• Krzysztof Pfeiffer, Photographer

  Krzysztof Pfeiffer is an Auckland-based photographer with more than twenty books published in New Zealand and around the world.