Product Description

Antique Tanimbar Necklace

Material: Gold
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 22, Width 11 cm
Order Number: MHSATE6

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide. They depend on boats as their main transport.

The necklace (mase) is a powerful face of an ancestor, intensely gazing ahead, wearing a helmet with ‘s’ shaped decorations and a prominent crescent evoking buffalo horns,  almond eyes and a sharp elongated nose.

Such masks were hung from the head with the pendant resting on the forehead and designed to evoke awe. They were worn by women.

There is a wide variety of styles as shown in the examples in Ethnic Jewellery from Indonesia, Continuity and Evolution, Bruce Carpenter, Editions Didier Millet 2011, pages 304-309 and

Gold Jewelry of the Indonesian Archipelago, Anne Richter and Bruce Carpenter, Editions Didier Millet 2011, pages 65-68.

19th – early 20th century.

Map of Tanimbar.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).