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Shell valuable, Moka Kina (Melanesian Pidgin) , 20th century
Wood, bamboo, mud, ochre, gold-lip pearl shell (Pinctada maxima), fiber, beads, resin
48.3 x 40.6 cm (19 x 16 in.)
The Marcia and John Friede Collection, a Promised Gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco L05.1.427

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art PUBLICATIONS: 2005 - "This value item was used in moka ceremonial exchange events. These have some resemblance with the Potlatch ceremonies of the Amerindian Haida people of the northwest coast. Moka is a type of ceremonial exchange between male partners (who may be related by kinship but who may also be friends) that is characteristic of the Hagen region. There are two main types of moka transaction: shell and pig moka. In shell moka, sets of mounted pearl shells are given away to exchange partners by the men of a donor group or a single Big Man. "Moka relations are based on reciprocity to continue over a number of years and are characterized by an element of rivalry which also shows in the dances" (Stratern, 1917: 49). Moka partners "confront and test each other over time with demonstrations of their wealth" (ibid.l). At each stage the donor ideally gives more than he receives and thus he is said to "make moka." Leaders boast that they have won by making a gift that the recipients will be unable to match; in so doing a man becomes a Big Man and tribal leader (Strathern, 1972: 788b). The use of moka shells in the context of ceremonies can be found in the literature: carried in procession and laid out on a matting of fern leaves (Strathern and Stewart, 199: 28-29); suspended from horizontally placed bars as payment for experts, or hanging above cult stones, sometimes in the context of the "female spirit cult" (Strathern, 1971: 58; Strathern and Stewart, 1999, figs. 46 and 51); worn as breast plates during the mor dance (ibid., 66-67; see also plate 583 below); and during a procession of the wop cult (Strathern and Stewart, 1999: 98). When women may wear "their husband's wealth" on their backs it is "a gift for her own kinsmen as a sign of her ties with them" and signifies that "a wife's people are at her back, while she faces her husband...a woman leaves her kin when she marries and goes to her husband's place" (ibid., 78). The valuable is actually the gold-lip pearl shell, called kina in Melanesian Pidgin. The rest is a presentation plaque. (Kina is the name of New Guinea's unit of currency.) These shells moved from southerly and western directions into the Hagen region by trade routes in the past. The shells are "felt to be enhanced by the way they are mounted. They are backed with pandanus leaves and set into a prepared board of tree resin, which is softened with a heated stone or piece of iron; the resin then sets onto the shell. Red ochre is sprinkled freshly over the board each time the shell is displayed [to] enhance the desired ruddy color of the shells" (Strathern, 1971: 20-21). Decorating the shells is thought to parallel the way men decorate and paint themselves. Thirty-two bamboo sticks are embedded in resin above this particular shell. They are a tally (omak) of the moka transactions in the "account" of the owner (ibid., 138). These tallly sticks may also be worn in daily life, and are "a clearer indication of the wealth and status of a man wearing these than the mounted pearl shells." However, putting on a good display of these at a festival enhances a man's image and would inspire confidence in his "ability to meet creditors' claims" (ibid.). (Catalog #581, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 188.)

Related Keywords
Pidgin Melanesian Kina Moka valuable Francisco San Museums Arts Fine Gift Promised Friede John Marcia Art Jolika people Medlpa Melpa Oceania Province Highlands Western Guinea New object Ritual resin beads fiber maxima Pinctada shell pearl lip gold ochre mud bamboo Wood 0709200406050525 A365340 L05.1.427 AOA