A tu'a (or kihi) ring, an ornamental fingering for dancing. In ancient times, tu'a finger rings were worn by both male and female dancers at traditional banquet dances called koina. Today, they are the sole preserve of women, who wear a contemporary version for the bird dance. The preservation and transmission of an ancient tu'a ornament such as this one, which is extremely fragile, is an exception bordering on the miraculous. These ancient tu'a ornaments became famous and almost mythical through two drawings by Eugène Fauque de Jonquières, often reproduced, the originals of which are kept in the Chartres museum. Made from a wickerwork of braided coconut pericarp fibers forming the ring, the tu'a from the Jean Roudillon collection is also adorned with human hair, and six Phaeton tail feathers, all still present as on another rare specimen preserved at the Musée de Nouvelle Calédonie in Nouméa (inv. MNC 86.5.155) and also featuring six feathers. This other tu'a, in excellent condition but with no human hair, was collected between 1830 and 1880. Two other tu'a (or kihi) fingerstalls, formerly in the collections of the Musée de la Marine and the Musée l'Homme and now in the Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac (inventory numbers 71.1930.54.152D and 71.1930.54.144D), are two other great rarities. These are adorned with Phaeton feathers, but also with old men's beard hair aigrettes pavahina and a human bone. These ornaments are obviously much more than extremely rare ethnographic documents, bearing witness to a vanished age and era, but also, because of their fragility, to a poetry and delicacy at least equal to their extreme rarity. Marquesas Islands Hair, coconut pericarp, Phaeton tail feathers, old oxidation and very beautiful old patina, excellent condition. H. 39.5 cm See for the other three fingertips in the online collections of the Musée de Nouvelle Calédonie in Nouméa and the Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac in Paris. Provenance : Jean Roudillon Collection