ear plug

Ear plug made from wood with shell inlay.

Spool of wood inlaid with pearlshell, for the ear. Ear-spools of this size and type in the British Museum have no provenance so the history of this example helps establish an identity.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
21.11.56/19
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 109 mm x 109 mm x 23 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
wood; shell
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
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Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk