21 Maori Treasures in American Museum Collections

 

Detail of a Door Lintel | Pare
© The Cleveland Museum of Art

 
 
 

21 Maori Treasures in American Museum Collections

 

Curated by Steven G. Alpert

 
 

For the month of May, Art of the Ancestors presents an assemblage of Māori arts from nine American institutions. 

Māori arts, with well-chosen materials and beautiful surfaces, diverse forms, and often richly detailed overlay of patterning, are such that nothing beats experiencing the breadth and profundity of this material in person. In the United States, the landmark exhibition Te Māori: Māori Art from New Zealand Collections (1984) set a standard for exhibiting this material. It included an addendum of virtuoso pieces with a detailed text edited by the renowned Māori leader, Sir Sidney Moko Mead. This show traveled from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to St. Louis, Chicago, and San Francisco in what was then a novel collaboration and consultation between American museums and Māori elders.

Māori art is based on a thorough understanding of the utilization of balancing form and function coupled with a feeling for what was understood as the animate quintessence from within a given material. Traditional materials ranged from wood, bone, shell, greenstone (nephrite), flax, and feathers. The entire creation process was stitched with 'wairua,'  a state that profoundly links us to one other and the natural world. In this setting, a master artisan, known as a tohunga, a chosen or appointed one, became an acknowledged expert. In woodcarving, for example, this process might involve years of apprenticeship from masters in order to attain a high level of artistic realization. 

This process was partially governed by two additional entities: mana and tapu. Mana can perhaps be best described as a state that embodies and cultivates: "prestige, authority, control, power, influence, status, power, and immense charisma." Mana is also a supernatural force that flows through important persons, places, and venerated objects. It was expected that persons of rank and importance would become skilled so that objects of their creation, be it personal items, adornments, weapons, or the carvings on structures such as a communal meeting house (marai), private dwelling (whare), storehouse (pataka) or canoes (waka) celebrated not only the glory of one's lineage but illuminated and projected the mana of its creator. Our word in English, 'taboo,' originates from the Polynesian word 'tapu.' If something is tapu, it should be avoided, not touched or altered, as tapu involves forms of knowledge coupled with restraint. These concepts played an essential role in how one lived and what an artisan created.

Mana and tapu are present in the items of personal use and adornment illustrated here that connote accomplishment and rank. The fine nephrite neck ornament or hei-tiki in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is said to represent an embryonic-like being that suggests fertility that could be handed down as a taonga or heirloom treasure from one generation to the next. Imagine the dedicated time involved in sourcing, grinding, and polishing this intractable and beautiful jade-like stone (pounamu) in a pre-metal culture. Other items of treasured pounamu can be seen below, including a handsome greenstone club, also stewarded by the Met, and by an outstanding late 18th century scepter-like hand axe that enshrines an especially revered and potent nephrite blade that is housed in the University of Pennsylvania's collection. Two shimmering feathered cloaks are also featured. One resides in the Denver Art Museum, while the other is housed in Pennsylvania. 

Objects of personal usage that reflected an individual's mana, and that were also considered tapu, are the two treasure or feather boxes (waka huia — formed from the word 'waka' for a vessel or canoe and 'huia,' which refers to the feathers of the huia bird). These were hung from the rafters on two cords, hence the pommels at each end. Typically, they contained precious nephrite jade, feathers, and small valued ornaments. One 19th-century example is from the Teel collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, while the other is an 18th to very early 19th century northern style box from the Morton May collection in the Saint Louis Art Museum. Traditionally, while a Māori carver may show his own skills, most carvings are bound by a convention or frame, boundaries to which an item's aesthetics, shapes, and forms should conform. Feather boxes are different. Carvers could invent and put their individual stamp on their own creations. Aside from regional styles, perhaps this explains the astounding variation and creative solutions in the workmanship of waka huia. Two feeding vessels, one from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the other from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, are also reproduced. A person's head was not to be touched in non-approved ways. Such stemmed cups were used while a person was in a state of grace or tapu when they received incised facial tattoos (moko).

Magnificent examples of carved lintels (The Cleveland Museum of Art and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) and a gloriously carved framing post from an important structure (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) attest to skills born of a deep attachment to mythology while celebrating life as being ever-present and effervescent. Also from LACMA and the Met are provocative images of ancestors (te puna) that were used as the central gable apex ornament (tekoteko) of a meeting house's front that often faces a marai or the open-air assembly ground of the tribe. Old free-standing central house figures are extremely rare. Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, displays a superb figure dating from the early 19th century that was once tied or attached to the base of the structure's most important load-bearing central post. 

There are many important museum holdings of Māori material in the U.S. that are not yet digitized, and it is our hope that more Māori material will become more available online and further exposed in public exhibitions. In the meantime, here are twenty-one stellar objects from American museum collections for engaging one's imagination and sense of appreciation and reminding us of an astute Māori proverb:

He toi whakairo, he mana tangata
"Where there is artistic excellence, there is human dignity." 

Steven G. Alpert, founder of Art of the Ancestors

 
 
 

1

 
 

Greenstone Pendant

 
 

Greenstone Pendant
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 

19th century

Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Nephrite jade (pounamu), shell, pigment, and wax

Gift of Heber R. Bishop, 1902

02.18.315

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 

2

 
 

Hand Club | Mere Pounamu

 
 

Hand Club | Mere Pounamu
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 

19th century

New Zealand

Greenstone

The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979

1979.206.1459

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 
 

3

 
 

Ceremonial Adze | Toki Poutangata

 

Ceremonial Adze | Toki Poutangata
© The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

 

Detail of Ceremonial Adze | Toki Poutangata
© The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

 

New Zealand

Greenstone, wood, shell

Purchased from the Estate of George Byron Gordon, 1927

29-93-13

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

 
 
 

4

 
 

Feather Cloak | Kahu Huruhuru

Feather Cloak | Kahu Huruhuru
© Denver Art Museum

Late 1800s

New Zealand, Polynesia

Feathers, flax

Native Arts Acquisition Fund

1955.347

Denver Art Museum

 
 
 
 

5

 
 

Feather Cloak | Kahu Huruhuru

 
 

Feather Cloak | Kahu Huruhuru
© The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

 
 

New Zealand, Polynesia

Feathers, wool fiber

Purchased from W. O. Oldman, 1912

P3081A

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

 
 

6

 
 

Treasure Box | Waka Huia

 

Treasure Box | Waka Huia
© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

19th century

New Zealand

Wood, pigment, haliotis shell

Gift of William E. and Bertha L. Teel

1994.422a-b

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 
 
 
 

7

 
 

Treasure Box | Waka Huia

 

Treasure Box | Waka Huia
© Saint Louis Art Museum

 
 

Early 19th century

New Zealand

Wood, shell, and greenstone

Gift of Morton D. May

203:1975a,b

Saint Louis Art Museum

 
 
 

8

 
 

Treasure Box | Papahou

 

Treasure Box | Papahou
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

18th century

New Zealand, Bay of Plenty region

Wood, shell

The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1960

1978.412.755a, b

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 
 
 

9

 
 

Feeding Funnel | Korere

 
 

Feeding Funnel | Korere
© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 
 

19th-20th century

New Zealand

Wood

Gift of William E. and Bertha L. Teel

1991.1071

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 
 

10

 
 

Feeding Funnel | Koropata

 
 

Feeding Funnel | Koropata
© Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Circa 1825

New Zealand (Aotearoa), Gisborne

Rongowhakaata or Te Aitanga a Mahaki tribes

Wood and Haliotis shell

Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation

M.2008.66.24

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

 
 
 
 
 

11

 
 

Door Lintel | Pare

 
 

Door Lintel | Pare
© The Cleveland Museum of Art

1800s

Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Polynesia

Wood, pigment

The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken

1962.350

The Cleveland Museum of Art

 
 
 
 

12

 
 

Door Lintel | Pare

 

Door Lintel | Pare
©
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

19th century

Neke Kapua and Tene Waitere

New Zealand

Totara wood, abalone shell

Purchased from Thomas Edward Donne, 1904

29-58-159A

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

 
 
 

13

 
 

Gable Peak Figure | Tekoteko

 

Gable Peak Figure | Tekoteko
© Los Angeles County Museum of Art

 
 

Circa 1800

New Zealand (Aotearoa)

Wood, shell, teeth, and traces of pigment

Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation

M.2008.66.18

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

 
 
 

14

 
 

Gable Figure | Tekoteko

 

Gable Figure | Tekoteko
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 

Mid-18th century

Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Wood, pāua shell

Purchase, 2019 Benefit Fund, several members of The Chairman's Council Gifts, Philippe de Montebello and 2020 Benefit Funds, Andrea Bollt Bequest, in memory of Robert Bollt Sr. and Robert Bollt Jr., Mariana and Ray Herrmann and Gordon Sze MD Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2022

2022.346

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 
 

15

 
 

Standing Ancestor Figure

 

Standing Ancestor Figure
© Kimbell Art Museum

 
 

c. 1800–1840

Te Huringa period I (1800–1900)

New Zealand

Wood

AP 1989.04

Kimbell Art Museum

 
 
 

16

 
 

War Canoe Sternpost | Taurapa

 

War Canoe Sternpost | Taurapa
© Saint Louis Art Museum

 
 

Probably early to mid-19th century

New Zealand

Wood

Bequest of Morton D. May

1531:1983

Saint Louis Art Museum

 
 
 

17

 
 

Carved Panel for a Storehouse | Epa

 

Carved Panel for a Storehouse | Epa
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 
 

18th century

Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Wood

Purchase, 2019 Benefit Fund, several members of The Chairman's Council Gifts, Philippe de Montebello and 2020 Benefit Funds, Andrea Bollt Bequest, in memory of Robert Bollt Sr. and Robert Bollt Jr., Mariana and Ray Herrmann and Gordon Sze MD Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2022

2022.347

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 
 

18

 
 

Gable Figure | Tekoteko

 

Gable Figure | Tekoteko
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 
 

1820s

New Zealand

Te Arawa

Wood, paint

The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979

1979.206.1437

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 
 
 

19

 
 

Weaving Peg | Turu Turu

 

Weaving Peg | Turu Turu
© The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University

 
 

18th century

Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Wood and haliotis shell

Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

2010.21

The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University

 
 
 

20

 
 

Carved Face

 

Carved Face
© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 
 

19th–20th century

Wood, haliotis shell

Gift of William E. and Bertha L. Teel

1994.399

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 
 
 

21

 
 

Wooden Flute | Koauau

 

Flute | Koauau
© The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University

 
 

19th century

Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Wood and haliotis shell

Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

2003.168

The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University

 
 
 

All artworks and images presented in this feature are the property of their attributed museums.