Description (Physical description)
Z register for Z 35057 [A-D]: 'Four ear pendants'.
Event Date
Author: Lucie Carreau

Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card for Z 35057 A-D: 'Four ear pendants. A: Of green elytra of a type of buprestis on rope core with larger insect wing cases at end. B: Of reddish insect wing cases on rope core, with red and yellow small feathers and coarse black native hair at end. C & D: Consisting of two strands of beetles legs.'
Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Amendments / updates)
"Two sets of objects were previously labelled Z 35057. There are 3 double strands of beetle legs in this box. Only one is labelled, as Z 35057 C, with old label attached which reads: "Ear pendent, Ecuador, bt Webster 1906". The other two have no labels at all. It has been assumed that 2 of the double strands of wings are C and D, and that there is an extra strand present.
I have attached new labels with the no. ?Z 35057 C-D on the basis of the database description. Box lid notes "Ecuador/ Montana Region".'
Event Date 21/6/2000
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Ear pendant made from a double strand of beetle legs attached to a thin cord; they are joined together at one end with a knot.
Event Date 15/7/2021
Author: Sam Daisley

Context (Display)
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 26/7/2023
Author: rachel hand