M0016041: Seven Maori tattooing instruments

Display of a selection of Maori tattooing instruments. They were included in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum exhibition "Medicine of the Aboriginal Peoples in the British Commonwealth" held in 1952. The items were purchased at auction by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum between 1928 and 1934 and accessioned in 1936 (accession numbers R10594/1936 (mallet), R10593/1936, R8758/1936, R8757/1936 and R5544/1936 (pricking instruments) R8844/1936 and R5545/1936 (chisels). They are not held by Wellcome Collection.

1957

1 photograph glass plate negative; 10.2 x 12.7 cm

Wellcome Collection holds the accession registers which provide entries for the items: accession number R5544/1936 and R5545/1936, R8757/1936 and R8758/1936, R8844/1936 and R10593/1936 and R10594/1936. It also holds the exhibition publication

Copyright is held by Wellcome Collection

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2021.

Please consult the digitised version as this item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.