Context (Display)
Copper wires on the object. now removed, would suggest that they were on display at an unknown time, probably pre 1990
Event Date
Author: Eleanor Beestin-Sheriff

Description (Physical description)
Two dance ornaments made of strings of green beetles wings.
Event Date
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
Catalogue card reads, 'Two dance ornaments made of strings of green beetles wings, used by women. c& d. W.G. Tidmarsh.'
'Box lid noted "Ecuador/ Montana Region' R.Hand 26/6/2000
Event Date 1/3/1998
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Rachel Hand: 'Two ornaments each made of three unequal strands of beetle wings. Some wings are larger than the others.'
Event Date 26/6/2000
Author: Eleanor Beestin-Sheriff

Description (Physical description)
Two dance ornaments consisting of strings of bright green, iridescent beetle wings. Each wing has been pierced at the top, and affixed to the rest with fibre. Some of the wings are larger and may be from a different type of beetle; there are also two beetle legs attached to one of the strings. Both ornaments are made up of three strings, all attached at the top; two are longer, the third is roughly half the length of the other two.
Event Date 15/7/2021
Author: Eleanor Beestin-Sheriff

Context (Display)
1946.267.1, with the longer shortest pendent exhibited in the MAA exhibition Colour: Art, Science & Power, Li Ka Shing Gallery, 26 July 2022- 23 April 2023
The text noted: 'Iridescence/ ‘And halcyon kingfisher [plumes] and pearl-studded coverlets glisten in equal splendour’ (Chinese Cu Ci poem, circa 3rd century BCE)
Iridescence has the power to enchant and captivate. Chinese connoisseurs’ desire for shimmering kingfisher feathers goes back millennia. Victorian butterfly collectors were obsessed with the dramatic flash produced by the wings of the Purple Emperor butterfly. For some Aboriginal groups, sparks of brilliance were equated with ancestral power. Iridescence can seem unpredictable, exciting and potentially dangerous.
The effect of iridescence is produced by the relationship between the movement of the viewer and minute variations in the surface structure of things. These microscopic changes make light waves bouncing off the surface interfere with each other. The wing cases of jewel beetles display particularly pretty colour interferences and are used in ornaments originating from Oceania, the Amazon and parts of Asia. In the natural world, organisms use iridescence in a wide variety of ways, from attracting mates to confusing predators.'

In case label: 'Dance ornaments made from beetle wing-cases and beetle legs Ecuador, Jivaro people, 20th century Collected by Wilfred Tidmarsh and William Downing Webster. MAA 1946.267 and Z 35057 C.'
Event Date 26/7/2022
Author: rachel hand