Tagua (tahua, tawa) is the nut of a species of palm tree (Phytelephas macrocarpa) found throughout the north-west Amazon basin, which includes part of Peru. This palm has large pods which contain many smaller nuts that are easily cut and dyed. In their natural state, the nuts have the look of ivory, leading to the term "vegetable ivory" sometimes applied to them. The tagua palm is also called the ivory nut palm.
These ten tagua beads were hand-cut in a disk shape. They are about 15 mm in diameter and 6 mm thick, with 1 mm holes. The remains of brown seed coats are left on some. The tops are bevelled and polished but the bottoms show cut marks or the imperfections. Those of this lot are undyed and have an off-white ivory color. |
