A Museum Display

Pounamu Tiki

(greenstone)

Behind Glass

Otago Museum, Dunedin

May 2010, Ajr

Hooks and Chisels

" Rei matua, hei taonga e mau noa ana ki te tane/wahine ranei.

Purehurehu, Wahapu o Otago
Fish-hook breast pendants (hei matau) are stylised fish hooks meant only for ornamental use.

Pahia and Haywards Point, Otago Peninsula

Pleasant River Mouth, North Otago.

I mahia nga whao, ahakoa te rahi, kia whaowhao i nga whakairo tino uaua

Chisels (flat blades) and gouges (curved blades) of all sizes and profiles were specially developed for the production of intricate woodcarving.

Whareakeake, Otago Heads."
Notes from Otago Museum exhibition display.

www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

From the Museum Files - Otago

Details of Ngati Porou Carvings, made near napier in the late 1870s

In the Collection of Otago Museum, Dunedin.

www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

If you click on the words Otago Museum in the label line below, you'll be able to view a number of other exquisite pieces from the museum's Maori Collections.

A Gateway For History

I photographed this contemporary carved Maori gateway at Dunedin's Otago Museum last month - so different to traditional works, yet still beautiful in an entirely different way. You'll notice that, as always, I homed in on the cast shadows.
According to the museum exhibition notes, Nga Waka Tupuna o te Tai-o-Araiteuru - The Ancestral canoes of the Otago Coast - was made for the Otago Museum by the manawhenua of the Otago region, under the guidance of the artist, Cliff Whiting. A dedication ceremony was held for the gateway at the Otago Museum on November 27, 1990. The carvings on the front of the gateway depict the three canoes, Uruao, Araiteuru and Takitimu. The totara wood figures represent four important South Island ancestors. www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

Carving Detail - A Museum Perspective

When I took these two photographs, I was testing my new camera as much as anything and, in a remiss moment, I forgot to note down the origins and history of this particularly beautiful carving. However, because it was situated between two large exhibits of Ngati Porou meeting house carvings, made near Napier in the late 1870s, I am guessing this piece may be part of the same group - although I could be wrong. I won't prattle on - just in case, leaving you instead, just to enjoy the exquisite craftsmanship of traditional carvers. www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

Museum Stories - Otago

This is one of the iconic images that Otago Museum uses in its own promotional material. I took this photograph on a recent visit to the museum - it's the carving Poutokomanawa, in the museum's collection. According to the museum's notes, "the carved figues are of a tribal ancestor and ancestress in sexual embrace. This is a re-telling of one creation myth, the union of the primal parents, Rangi and Papa. One of their many children, Tane, the forest god, prised his parents apart, letting light into the world, where Rangi is the sky and Papa, the earth." www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

Waka Huia - Treasure Boxes

I photographed these beautiful carved waka huia (feather or treasure boxes) at Otago Museum in Dunedin recently. It's a name I love - waka huia - and as a collector of boxes and, in the past, of feathers too, I could only gaze in awe at these beautiful examples of traditional Maori craft.

According to the museum display notes "these elaborately carved boxes were used to store huia tail feathers and other prized possessions. There are two basic shapes ofwaka huia - the rectangular and canoe (waka) or oval forms. As they were intended to be hung from the roofs of houses, the bottoms of the boxes were as well decorated as the sides and lid. Male and female figures, sometimes copulating, are usually incorporated int the carving." www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

One Waka - A Short History

This bottom photograph doesn't really do this beautiful waka (canoe)- Te Paranihi - justice. It's much bigger and much more handsome than it looks here- although the detail shot does hint at the intricate beauties that deserve close inspection. I photographed it recently at Otago Museum in Dunedin and I noted the following from the museum's exhibition notes: "The hull of this waka taua (Maori war canoe) was made in about 1840 in the Whanganui River valley for Paturomu, a chief based at Koroniti. The waka was first given the name Tauria Komene but in 1890 was renamed Te Paranihi in honour of the then Premier of New Zealand, John Ballance. Although designed as a waka taua, Te Paranihi was never used in fighting and probably had only a plain prow.

In 1932, the Otago Museum set about the preparation of Te Paranihi for display, using a tauihu (prow) and taurapa (stern) from an 1828 waka taua named Waikahua, built by Ngati Toa. These carvings had been part of an exchange of gifts between Matenga Taiaroa of Ngai Tahu and Te Rauparaha, and were donated to the Otago Museum at its foundation by Octavius Harwood, an early European settler on Otago Peninsula.

The carving of the rauawa (attached sides of the waka) was carried out by Thomas Chappe Hall. His work was based on a design used in the Taranaki region and is in harmony with the design of the tauihu, telling the Maori story of the creation of heaven and earth. The spirals represent the coming of light and knowledge to the world. www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

From the Museum Files - Otago Museum

When I was in Dunedin last week and the rain fell, I retreated to Otago Museum to test my new camera in low light without flash. I have to say I was delighted with the results and what seemed like a gross over-indulgence when I bought it now seems like a very sound investment. And so to these stunning carvings...... They were made by Ngati Porou carvers near Napier in the late 1870s for the Hawke's Bay chief, Karaitiana Takamoana, who planned to erect a whare Runanga where they would feature. Unfortunately he died in 1979 and the incompleted carvings were abandoned. Dr T.M Hocken, who had heard of the carvings, secured their loan for the New Zealand Exhibition of 1889-90, where they were set up as a house. At the conclusion of the exhibition, Hocken purchased the carvings and gifted them to Otago Museum - which, I have to say, has a small but very beautiful collection of Maori artefacts. www.otagomuseum.govt.nz (These notes from the Otago Museum exhibition labels).