Tattooing Mallet

item details

NameTattooing Mallet

ProductionUnknown; 1700s; Society Islands

Classificationceremonial objects, tattooing instruments

Materialswood

Techniqueswoodcarving

DimensionsOverall: 38mm (width), 473mm (length), 15mm (depth)

Registration NumberFE003009

Credit lineGift of The Imperial Institute, 1955

Overview

This is a tattooing mallet from the Society Islands. It is shaped like a miniature paddle, with a narrow shaft and a leaf-shaped or spatulate blade.

Usage
When a tattooist is working on a tattoo he will dip the tattooing tool in a reservoir containing pigment. The pigment is drawn into the toothed edge of the blade. Using a light mallet such as this one, the tattooist then taps the back of the tattooing tool, perforating the surface of the skin and depositing the pigment beneath it.

Acquisition
This tattooing mallet may have been collected by English explorer Captain James Cook during his voyages into the Pacific in the late 1700s. It is known to have been in the possession of Queen Victoria and to have been given to the Imperial Institute in London, England, by Edward VII. In 1955, it was gifted to the Dominion Museum (Te Papa's predecessor) as part of an important collection of artefacts from the Imperial Institute.