Southwark Heritage

Cuming Collection, Art Collection
and Southwark Archives

Tattooing-Instrument

Object name: Tattooing-Instrument

Date: 1775-1840

Dimensions:

140 x 45 x 21 mm

Medium: Wood, shell/bone, coconut fibre

Object number: C02570

DescriptionTattooing comb of wood with a bone blade lashed to the handle by coconut fibre. The blade is still stained by the candlenut soot pigment used in the tattooing process. The teeth are tapped into the surface of the skin with a small mallet, depositing the pigment under the surface of the skin. Polynesia.

Culture: Oceania