Wooden carving of three masked figures. A man stands in back with a large concave vessel balanced on his head. The vessel is light brown, with scalloped edges and a face carved and painted at top. Two women stand in front of the man, both carrying bags in one hand and decorative objects in the other. They wear elaborate headdresses that fall down their backs and are covered with shells carved into the wood. All figures wear similar skirts painted orange, yellow and brown, belted at the waist, and white cords crossing their chests. The masks they wear are densely painted in orange, yellow and brown on a white base. All figures have eyes made of shell. The base is rounded and entirely carved and painted.

Finial derivation. Tall, standing carving of a group of figures. On the round wooden base a small masked woman stands with legs slightly crouched, hands by her sides, twisted rope decorating her waist, ankles, wrists and ears. A large decorated shield stands behind her, facing the opposite direction. It holds a large face, circular motifs along both edges, and twists of rope. A second masked woman balances on the shield, similar in appearance and decoration to the woman below, but taller. Standing on her shoulders is a large tan bird with a huge curved beak, its tail resting on the shield. It too is decorated with twisted rope. The eyes of the bird, women and face on the shield are made of shell. One of the twisted fibre cords is made of red and green strands.

Wood carving of a man, woman and crocodile. A woman in an elaborately painted mask sits with knees raised, hands on stomach. The head of a child emerges from her vagina. A man stands behind her with hands on her arms. He too wears a mask, and has elaborate decorations carved into his chest. A crocodile balances on his head, its tail falling down his back. The crocodile’s chin rests on a white ball balanced on the woman’s head. Both man and woman have ear and nose embellishments made of twisted grass. The eyes of all figures are made of shell. The base of the sculpture is rounded, with the name “Lucas Tangun” carved into the side, as well as several grey footprints painted on it.

Tall wooden sculpture of female figure, bird and snakes. Figure has a human torso with a long, eel-like tail in place of pelvis and legs. A large snake is wrapped around her waist and bites her tail at front. The woman wears an elaborately painted mask with an ornate headdress extending from the top. Upon it is wrapped an orange snake gripped in the beak of a large grey and white bird with a yellow head and beak. The figures balance upon a thick, rounded base.

Necklace of cowrie shells with a gourd pendant. A double line of cowrie shells makes up the majority of the chain, strung on plastic fishing line. At the bottom are three pairs of shells interspersed with three strands of plastic beads in black red and white. A small brown gourd hangs below this, covered in a loosely woven covering of raffia, with a raffia tassel hanging below. The gourd is embellished with three evenly spaced decorations of a cowrie shell surrounded by a circle of beads.

Staff made of thick, stiff strands of dried grass, wrapped with raffia in an open weave to make up the handle. From the bottom protrudes a tuft of raffia, wrapped with a band of woven white fabric and grey plastic twine. Two circular patches of raffia are attached close to the base, topped with cowrie shells arranged in a flower motif. The top of the staff is covered in unbleached cotton, edged with two kinds of braided synthetic banding. Attached to the cotton are three small gourd rattles, also wrapped in open raffia weaving, each with a single cowrie shell and plastic bead decoration. Three lines of cowrie shells are glued to the cotton between the gourds.

Filá headdress. Gourd headpiece, with hanging raffia cover. The half gourd is decorated with lace around its rim and across to the top centre where it wraps around a protruding lip. On the body between the strips of lace are woven circles of raffia beneath flower shaped arrangements of cowrie shells and plastic beads. Out the top protrusion emerges a stiff tuft of raffia held together by a wrap of grey plastic twine. From the lower rim of the gourd hang thick, metre long strands of raffia, entirely encircling the headdress so that the fringe hangs down evenly over the wearer’s front and back.

Necklace made from a single large, crescent shaped piece of shell with ochre pigment on one side. Attached to a thick, woven, ochre-coloured woven band; one cowrie shell attached to band at each end. Three tufts of possum hair (on the skin) hang from the strap on short woven strings, also coloured with ochre.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

Short sleeve, backless embroidered blouse with long front panel. Predominantly bright pink with multi-coloured embroidery, the central embroidered designs on the blouse are in the shape of cowrie shells. There are two square designs embroidered over the breasts. Within the square designs are smaller embroidered squares and appliqué circular mirrors. There are also cotton puffs with beads on the top in both of the squares, as well as throughout the entire design. The bottom half of the blouse has a ‘U’ shape embroidered design which includes the cowrie shell technique, rectangles with appliqué mirrors in the centre and cotton puffs. There is also a flower motif embroidered on the inside edge of the ‘U’ shape. On the sleeves of the blouse there is a shield pattern with a flower whorl embroidered in the centre of the shield. Around the shield are several cotton puffs also with beads on top. Around the outer edge of the blouse there is a coloured pattern that includes triangles embroidered from both coloured cotton thread and gold thread. To finish off the edge of the blouse there is a multi-coloured stripe. On the bottom of the blouse, in both corners and in the centre, are small tassels with shells and a cotton puff. On the back of the sleeves there is a darker multi-coloured material.