Earrings

PAIR OF CORPORAL ORNAMENTS (EARRINGS) ZO'É

Brazilian Amazonia, Pará region

XXᵉ century - field collection

Provenance

Jean-Pierre Dutilleux collection, assembled during field missions in Amazonia.

Old private collection, Belgium.

Publication

Reprinted in TRIBES - The First People, Jean-Pierre Dutilleux, Éditions Vilo.

This pair is the example reproduced in the book.

Description

Rare pair of body ornaments attributed to the Zo'é, consisting of circular discs of shell material with a pearly surface, showing a remarkable natural iridescence, with reflections ranging from opalescent white to pale green and slightly purplish shades.

Each element is mounted on a light wooden rod, forming the wearing system. The reverse side retains a complex traditional assembly combining plant fiber ligatures, natural resin and organic inserts.

Suspended elements - seeds, beads and plant fragments - enrich the composition, introducing a mobile and sonorous dimension.

The whole bears witness to entirely manual manufacture, without industrial intervention, characteristic of productions made for direct use within Amazonian societies.

Analysis

The Zo'é are among those Amazonian groups whose contact with the outside world came late, only significantly intervening from the 1980s onwards.

As such, the objects collected during Jean-Pierre Dutilleux's fieldwork provide valuable evidence of a material culture little transformed by external exchanges.

Ear ornaments made of pearly discs play an important role in the body adornments of several Amazonian groups. Among the Zo'é, they are distinguished in particular by the thinness and length of the wearing stems, as well as by the formal simplicity of the discs, whose edges feature thin, uneven work.

The pearly, light-sensitive surface produces changing visual effects that help to highlight the body in motion, in a context where bodily appearance plays a central role in social and identity expression.

The presence of this example in Jean-Pierre Dutilleux's reference work lends this pair particular documentary interest.

Rarity: These pieces are extremely rare, it is a mistake to confuse them with those of the Capayo as both tribes use mother-of-pearl discs, but the shape of the stem (longer and thinner in the Zoé) and the finish of the disc edges allow them to be distinguished in ethnographic inventories such as those by Jean-Pierre Dutilleux.

Other examples and rarity

You will find very few examples of these pieces in the trade or even in classical museums, as they are part of the tribe's living heritage.

Famous collections:

In addition to Jean-Pierre Dutilleux's collection, examples can be seen at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris or at auctions specializing in Amazonian primitive art.

Worn condition.

Very well preserved pearly discs.