Lot 294
Maori Treasure Box, New Zealand
11 November 2019, 15:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$6,075 inc. premium
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Maori Treasure Box, New Zealand
wakahuia
length 17in (43cm)
Provenance
Richard I.M. Kelton Collection, Marina del Rey, California
Wakahuia "held the treasured feathers and ornaments owned individually by high-ranking persons. Being worn in close contact with the tapu heads of chiefly individuals, these ornaments and their treasure-box containers took on the tapu power of their owners. A very wide range of ear, neck and breast ornaments rendered in stone, bone, shell, teeth, ivory and precious jade nephrite were worn by both men and women, becoming treasured family and tribal heirlooms as they passed down through the generations." (Starzecka, et. al., The Maori Collections of the British Museum, 2010, page 43.
Finely carved in oval form with incised linear and curvilinear designs throughout the outer surface; two full figure tikis carved at each end with the heads projecting as suspension handles; fine unpolished dark-brown patina with ochre pigment predominantly on the base.
length 17in (43cm)
Provenance
Richard I.M. Kelton Collection, Marina del Rey, California
Wakahuia "held the treasured feathers and ornaments owned individually by high-ranking persons. Being worn in close contact with the tapu heads of chiefly individuals, these ornaments and their treasure-box containers took on the tapu power of their owners. A very wide range of ear, neck and breast ornaments rendered in stone, bone, shell, teeth, ivory and precious jade nephrite were worn by both men and women, becoming treasured family and tribal heirlooms as they passed down through the generations." (Starzecka, et. al., The Maori Collections of the British Museum, 2010, page 43.
Finely carved in oval form with incised linear and curvilinear designs throughout the outer surface; two full figure tikis carved at each end with the heads projecting as suspension handles; fine unpolished dark-brown patina with ochre pigment predominantly on the base.
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