Painted clam shell

This is a painted sea shell depicting a small arrangement of flowers and leaves. An inscription on the shell reads "Pitcairn.Is" and was probably made to sell to visitors to Pitcairn Island.

In English maritime history, Pitcairn Island is most famous as the home of the mutineers of the royal navy ship HMS Bounty, who settled on Pitcairn in 1790. The mutineers were joined by six Ma‘ohi men, 12 women and a baby girl. Today, the descendants of the mutineers still live on the island. Politically, the islands are administered by a governor who is the British High Commissioner to New Zealand.

Port of call

Pitcairn Island’s isolated location means it is only occasionally visited by ships. In the period after the Second World War until the 1960s, ships would call up to 40 times a year. According to maritime historian Gavin McLean, ‘Pitcairn is a roadstead port (that is, there is no harbour, so ships lie in the open sea, or roadstead). For two hours, on average, passengers hung over the railings while Pitcairners sold them stamps and souvenirs and loaded supplies into their wooden longboats’.(1)

For most of the twentieth century, the sale of painted seashells, carvings and weaving were an important source of income for Pitcairn Islanders. They also used them to barter with ship crews for luxury goods, and foods.(2)

Continuity and change

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, the arts and crafts on Pitcairn continue to play a small but important economic role for the island’s population. Similar types of objects appear to have made for decades. These include indigenous and non-indigenous crafts such as weaving, tapa making, carving, box-making, and wooden models of longboats and the Bounty. The sale of postage stamps is another source of income. However, in the age of the Internet and improved telecommunications, people no longer need to travel to Pitcairn to acquire these collectibles as they can now be ordered online through websites that Pitcairn Islanders have created.

Acquisition history

Meralda Warren who is a Pitcairn resident and artist, attributes other painted shells from Pitcairn in Te Papa to Mimi Warren who died in 1980 aged 92 years old. Based on the similarity of the handpainted inscription on this shell to the others, it is possible Mimi may have been the maker. 

References

(1). McLean, G. (2012). Barques, banana boats and Boeings: transport and communications, 1860s to the present day. Pp. 123–138. In: Mallon,S.,Mähina-Tuai,K.and Salesa, D.(eds).Tangata o le moana: New Zealand and the people of the Pacific. Wellington: Te Papa Press..Page 124

(2).McBean, A.(1964).Handicrafts of the South Seas.Noumea:South Pacific Commission and Sydney: Bridge Printery Ltd. Page 39.