18th Century or before
Height 4"
Provenance: Bonhams New York, November 16, 2021
Private collection, Australia
Beautifully carved from a piece of greenstone, or pounamu, of sublime beauty, this well loved and impressive pendant amply illustrates that a hei tiki is a taonga or treasure that may be appreciated as much for its tactile as for its visual quality.
This hei tiki is carved from a piece of pounamu of the rare inanga type, named for its resemblance to the pearlescent silver-green colour of the galaxias, or inanga, a freshwater fish native to Aotearoa. Historically inanga was the pounamu that Maori most prized, and the mystical qualities possessed by all pounamu seem tangible in this piece. Here the pounamu is the color of celadon, and a beautiful grain that seems to swirl around the contours of the sculpture like the water that flows over the pounamu in the rivers of Te Waipounamu, “the waters of greenstone”, the South Island of Aotearoa.
18th Century or before
Height 4"
Provenance: Bonhams New York, November 16, 2021
Private collection, Australia
Beautifully carved from a piece of greenstone, or pounamu, of sublime beauty, this well loved and impressive pendant amply illustrates that a hei tiki is a taonga or treasure that may be appreciated as much for its tactile as for its visual quality.
This hei tiki is carved from a piece of pounamu of the rare inanga type, named for its resemblance to the pearlescent silver-green colour of the galaxias, or inanga, a freshwater fish native to Aotearoa. Historically inanga was the pounamu that Maori most prized, and the mystical qualities possessed by all pounamu seem tangible in this piece. Here the pounamu is the color of celadon, and a beautiful grain that seems to swirl around the contours of the sculpture like the water that flows over the pounamu in the rivers of Te Waipounamu, “the waters of greenstone”, the South Island of Aotearoa.
