Maori bone comb
- Audio guide stop: 132
- Gallery: Room 1
- Made in: New Zealand
- Date: 18thC (before 1771)
- Object type: comb
- Materials: whalebone
- Museum number: Oc,NZ.163
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is a Maori bone comb made in New Zealand during the 18th century. Carved from whalebone, it has 11 tines and a rounded shape. The comb is slightly curved and features a plain, smooth design. This artifact was crafted by the Māori people and may have once belonged to someone of high status, as it closely resembles combs worn by Māori chiefs in the 1700s. It was likely collected during Captain James Cook’s first voyage and donated to the museum in 1771. The piece connects to a series of drawings from that time, showing similar combs being worn. Its provenance marks it as part of a historically significant group of New Zealand artifacts collected on this early journey of exploration.
See it in person
Maori bone comb is on display in Room 1 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 132, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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