Necklace

Chris Charteris is of multicultural heritage that includes Kiribati, German, English, and Australian (the last through adoption). He began his artistic career as a practitioner and teacher of bone and woodcarving. His work took a new direction in 1995, when he met his blood relatives and discovered an ethnicity of which he was previously unaware. He began to explore Pacific themes and materials, expanding on his previous work, which was much influenced by Māori culture and by the New Zealand natural environment and its natural resources.

Materials and decoration techniques
For this work Charteris has created a pendant of gold-lipped pearl shell suspended on a plaited cord of black synthetic fibre. The pendant is a heavy flattish disc with a slightly convex back and large central perforation. It has a serrated edge of triangles set below the front surface and a circular band of incised triangles midway between the outer edge and the perforation. The suspension cord is looped over the surface of the disc, through the perforation, and secured at the outer edge. The two ends of the cord are overlapped and fastened together. The incised decoration and the serrated edge (which recur throughout Charteris's work) enhance the Pacific feel of the pendant.

Significance
Pearl shell is highly valued in some Pacific cultures for its iridescent qualities. Charteris also references, but does not overtly copy, other Pacific objects such as currency disks and breast pendants.