Amuletsthe gallery← amulets.guru
Oceania · c. 1000 – today

Melanesian & Pacific charms

Meaning

Melanesian charms include love charms, canoe-prow guardians (nguzunguzu of the Solomon Islands, a head holding a bird or skull), war charms, shell and boar-tusk ornaments, and garden and fishing magic.

Intent

Nguzunguzu guarded canoes from water spirits and brought safe voyages and good fishing. Love charms attracted partners, war charms made warriors fierce, and boar tusks signalled status and power.

Significance

They reflect the diversity of more than 1,000 Melanesian cultures, and objects collected on voyages and missions in the 19th century are important records of ritual life.

History

Most surviving examples were collected from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji.

Making yours
Carved wood with shell inlay, turtle shell, boar tusk and shell-money beads.
Oceania: the tradition

Across Polynesia, power resided in mana, a sacred force that flowed from ancestors and gods and could be held in objects, especially those passed down through generations. Māori pounamu (greenstone) taonga (treasures) accumulated mana with each wearer. Hawaiian chiefs wore whale-ivory and human-hair lei niho palaoa as signs of divine rank. In Melanesia, charms for love, canoe voyages, war and gardens were made by specialists and kept secret. Many Pacific taonga were taken by collectors, and New Zealand and Hawaiian institutions now lead efforts to bring them home.

See all 7, save the ones that feel rightAsk about having one made
Amulet van het hoofd van de Papuase verzetslieden bij de Anggi-merenAmulet van het hoofd van de Papuase verzetslieden bij de Anggi-merenNetherlandsRinge vom Schneckengehäuse als Amulette gegen KrankheitenRinge vom Schneckengehäuse als Amulette gegen KrankheitenSolomon IslandsAmulet from Solomon IslandsAmulet from Solomon IslandsSolomon IslandsRain charms- DOIOM from Expeditions to the Torres StraitsRain charms- DOIOM from Expeditions to the Torres StraitsTre, west papua, melanesia amuletTre, west papua, melanesia amuletAmulet, Lamassong, New Ireland, 1910Amulet, Lamassong, New Ireland, 1910Collectie Wereldmuseum, TM-1943-20, Amulet, 'Amulet van het hoofd van de Papuase verzetslieden bij de Anggi-meren', voor 1949Collectie Wereldmuseum, TM-1943-20, Amulet, 'Amulet van het hoofd van de Papuase verzetslieden bij de Anggi-meren', voor 1949

More from Oceania: Hei-tiki · Hei-matau & Māori pendants · Other & unsorted Oceania
Every type in the gallery

Anything in the gallery can be made: any piece, any tradition, in its own material or yours, by hand from the documented original. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted before anything is made. I reply within one business day.