Solid wooden model of a Bonito fish, caved from a single piece of Casuarina wood and formerly fitted with tenoned fins. The post to which the fish was formerly attached is absent, although the two rectangular mortices are still evident on the fish’s belly. The fish has inlaid eyes formed from the circular disc at the base of a conus shell and several triangular toothed tiles of chambered nautilus shell encircle the fish’s belly and run down its spine. The fish is also painted entirely black with overpainting in white and red. Near the fish’s tail there is a label which reads 'Solomon Islands ornament from the beam of a canoe house, CV.... of HMS Curacoa frontisp [sic] fig PL 2010.6...3 NRS 24'. On the fish’s belly there is an oval label which reads 'J.E.P 23 A'.
By style, and the fact that it was obtained on the Curocoa voyage in 1865, this object is probably from Makira or one of the small islands nearby.
