Unseen Treasures

Museum vaults often contain artifacts that, for one reason or another, rarely see the light of day. Here’s a peek at hidden gems in the permanent collections of Honolulu’s major museums.

"A Catalogue of the Different Specimens of Cloth Collected in the Three Voyages of Captain Cook,”

BISHOP MUSEUM

One of only 30 known copies still extant, this 18th-century book contains pieces of kapa from Capt. James Cook’s Pacific voyages, with handwritten notes. Paper ages rapidly when exposed to light, so this precious tome stays closed until a researcher requests to see it.

Portrait of a Couple

Honolulu Academy of Arts

Love lives on in a tender Egyptian portrait of a husband and wife from c. 2400 B.C., which stays in the Academy’s vault due to space restrictions. Carved from a single block of limestone, it is one of the most ancient works in the museum’s permanent collection. A veil of red pigment is all that remains of the tabletop-size sculpture’s once-brilliant paint work.

Kekela Watch

Mission Houses Museum

This gold pocket watch, inscribed in Hawaiian, was given by President Abraham Lincoln to Rev. James Kekela for an act of bravery. Although the watch (which was once stolen and ransomed) is not on long-term display, partly for security reasons, it is one of the most visited pieces in storage; it gets checked twice a day by museum employees, and, once a year, the descendants of the original recipient fly in to pay it homage.

Vanity Case of Queen Kapiolani

Bishop Museum

With 24 million catalogued objects in the Bishop Museum’s permanent collection, and room to exhibit only a tiny fraction of them, sometimes even treasures need to wait their turn. This precious powder compact, crafted from gold and set with sapphires, was presented to visiting Queen Kapiolani by Queen Victoria of England at her 1887 Jubilee celebration in London. When the compact was opened recently, a puff of cotton and some pale powder were found inside, looking as fresh as the day they were last put down by a royal hand.

Princess Kaiulani Necklace

Bishop Museum

In 1897, Queen Kapiolani presented many of her jewels to Princes Kaiulani, who was engaged to be married; this confection of aquamarine and diamonds, originally crafted with silver chains, was part of her gift. When Kaiulani replaced the chains with the strands of small pearls of which she was so fond, this exquisite necklace, seen here in public for the first time, took its final form.

The Goblet

Iolani Palace

A stray bullet shattered the lip of this weighty crystal goblet on July 30, 1889, the day of the Wilcox Rebellion at Iolani Palace during the reign of King Kalakaua. The palace now showcases the Hawaiian monarchy at its height, so there’s no place in its current exhibits for this unique, never-displayed artifact of tumultuous times.

“Upper Cut”

Contemporary Museum

This gift of prominent artist Dennis Oppenheim is a mid-career work made of steel, plywood, foam and sheetrock, with “teeth” that are really worn-out art history books—some of which have plainly fallen out. It speaks volumes, but one of curator Jay Jensen’s favorite features is that, although it’s springy, it literally can’t shut (up). Plans for a new building to showcase The Contemporary Museum’s permanent holdings have been put on hold for the present. Upper Cut will stay in storage until there’s room in the museum’s public spaces for a five-foot-tall set of bookish dentures.

Children’s Ball Costumes

Iolani Palace

When Queen Lili‘uokalani hosted a children’s ball at ‘Iolani palace, these little page-boy outfits were worn by two of the lucky guests. Like any other glittering palace event, the ball re-ceived rapturous coverage by the periodicals of the day; other small guests came as ladies from the court of Louis XIV. Textiles are too delicate to display full time, so these costumes usually
stay under wraps.