| Hawaiian feather helmet | |
|---|---|
 Man Wearing Feather Cloak and Helmit (sic) attributed to Rembrandt Peale.[1] | |
| Material | Feathers and plant fibres |
| Created | 18th century |
| Present location | various museums including the British Museum, London |
Hawaiian feather helmets, known as mahiole in the Hawaiian language,[2] were worn with feather cloaks (ʻahu ʻula). These were symbols of the highest rank reserved for the men of the aliʻi,[3] the chiefly class of Hawaii. There are examples of this traditional headgear in museums around the world. At least sixteen of these helmets were collected during the voyages of Captain Cook.[4] These helmets are made from a woven frame structure decorated with bird feathers and are examples of fine featherwork techniques. One of these helmets was included in a painting of Cook's death by Johann Zoffany.
- ^ Spoked Feathered Helmet, British Museum, accessed September 2010
- ^ Mary Kawena Pukui; Samuel Hoyt Elbert (2003). "lookup of mahiole". in Hawaiian Dictionary. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, University of Hawaii Press.
- ^ Mary Kawena Pukui; Samuel Hoyt Elbert (2003). "lookup of aliʻi". in Hawaiian Dictionary. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, University of Hawaii Press.
- ^ To attempt some new discoveries in that vast unknown tract, Adrienne Kaeppler, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington DC Cook’s Pacific Encounters symposium, National Museum of Australia, 28 July 2006