↗Melanesia, New Guinea, Massim Area, Trobriand Islands, 20th century · before 1930
Club
Creator not recorded
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James B. Wadhams in memory of Miss Helen Humphreys · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image: public domain (CC0) · Museum record & image source ↗
Pacific Islands, Polynesia, New Zealand, Māori people · 1800s
Neck Pendant (Hei-tiki)
Creator not recorded by the museum
- Date
- 1800s
- Medium
- Greenstone (pounamu) (nephrite?)
- Dimensions
- Overall: 16.9 x 10.2 cm (6 5/8 x 4 in.)
- Country / context
- New Zealand
- Movement / tradition
- Oceanic arts
- Collection
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Pathway
- Oceanic arts ↗
FROM THE MUSEUM
Among the Māori, leaders are hereditary and imbued with mana, power and prestige that can be embodied and passed down in the artworks associated with them. Hei-tiki are among these treasured, mana-charged heirlooms, which connect the living to ancestors of the islands’ pre-European past. They may represent Hine-te-Iwaiwa, a legendary ancestress who is the exemplar of Māori womanhood and the patron of childbirth.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0A MOMENT TO LOOK
Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?
Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.Follow a connection.
Explore the tradition ↗↗
↗Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Papuan Gulf, Elema District, 20th century · before 1930
Spirit Board
Creator not recorded
↗Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Sepik River region, 19th century · 1800s
Ancestral Figure
Creator not recorded
↗Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Huon Gulf, Tami Islands, 19th century · 1800s
Bowl
Creator not recorded