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Overview
WÀSEISEI, ALSO KNOWN AS WÀSEKASEKA
Wàseisei are necklaces made from slivers cut from Sperm Whale teeth. These elaborate, labour-intensive forms of bodily adornment were worn by Fijian chiefs in the mid-to late 1800s. Not only are they aesthetically beautiful, wàseisei are precious examples of Pacific Island creativity and craftsmanship.
History
Whales’ teeth are prized by Fijians and other Pacific peoples, Tongans and Samoans in particular. During the 19th century’s Pacific whaling industry, fuelled by a Euro-American demand, whale teeth became more readily available in Fiji and this resulted in the greater production of valuable objects being made from these teeth. Tongan and Samoan canoe craftsmen living in Fiji carved wàseisei for Fijian chiefs using metal tools that had been introduced by European traders and whalers of the time.
Construction
A single whale tooth would be sawn down “into curved, pointed sections that were subsequently shaped and polished until they reached the desired concave form” (Sperlich 122). Holes would then be carefully drilled into the sides of each pendant and a rope usually made out of sennit would be strung through to keep the pendants in place.
Significance
Wàseisei were worn by Fijian chiefs and symbolized their chiefly rank. According to Clunie, former curator of the Fiji Museum, they also served as ransom during Fijian wars of the time. This particular waseisei was purchased by the museum from D. B. Vaughan in 1978. It was originally collected in 1870, most likely in Levuka, Fiji, where Vaughan’s grandfather, Henry Cave Vaughan, was a planter and magistrate. Two separate accounts accompany the necklace, the first being that it was given to Henry Vaughan by Ratu Sir Edward Cakobau, a son of the infamous Ratu Seru Epenesa, who became Cakobau, the most powerful Fijian chief in the 1800s. The other account says that the waseisei had been taken off a Fijian chief sentenced to death by Henry Vaughan.
References
Clunie, Fergus, 1986. Yalo I Viti: A Fiji Museum Catalogue. Suva: Fiji Museum.
Ewins, Rod, 1982. Fijian Artefacts: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection. Tasmania: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
Neich, Roger and Fuli Pereira, 2004. Pacific Jewellery and Adornment. Auckland: Auckland War Memorial Museum and David Bateman Ltd.
Sperlich, Tobias, 2006. Embodied Inter-Cultural Dialogues: The biography of a Samoan necklace in Cologne. The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 115 (2):119-144.