INV. NO. 2524
Wood; h. 130 cm.
Provenance: Found near the Whakatane River, near the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand North Island, at the beginning of the 20th century; bought by an Australian collection before 1940; in a private collection in Brisbane, Australia until 2017; in the Wyvern Collection since 2018 when it was acquired from Kevin Conru, Brussels.
A tekoteko is a freestanding, carved, full-length human figure that often acted as a gable ornament, adorning the roof peak of a major building in a Māori village, likely a wharenui (meeting house) or a pātaka (storehouse) owned by the village rangatira (chief). Each gable ornament depicts a progenitor - the original ancestor from whom all current members of the iwi (tribe) are descended. In doing so, it connects the present-day community that uses the building to its history and bloodline.
This example is remarkable for its great age, confirmed by a Carbon-14 test to date to the 13th century, between 1227 and 1290 AD (1). Even allowing for minor variances in dating, this makes the Wyvern tekoteko among the earliest known Māori works to have survived. This places the sculpture in the Te Tipunga period of Māori art, which began with the arrival of the first settlers around 1200 and continued until circa 1500.
Relatively little of the material culture from the earliest centuries of Māori habitation has survived, and that which has is usually due to its preservation in the ground or in swampy waterways. While stone, shell, and bone objects could survive intact, organic material such as wood invariably degraded and ultimately disintegrated over time. The few extant wooden pieces recognised as originating from the Te Tipunga period are almost entirely known from chance discoveries in wetland contexts. Highly sacred objects were placed there for safekeeping, out of the way of raiding parties, to protect their sacred mana. They were then either retrieved or left, after becoming lost or forgotten.
It is likely that this was the case for this tekoteko, as its surface shows a type of weathering only seen on objects found in such wet yet oxygen-deprived conditions. The wood is split along the grain throughout, as extended exposure to moisture has forced the internal structures apart. Some sections of the sculpture are also eroded, and the ssurface has developed a patina consistent with the prolonged contact with a damp, anaerobic environment.
Carved from the kauri tree - one of the largest tree species native to New Zealand and thus often used for monumental carvings - the sculpture comprises two figures, one surmounting the other. The upper figure shows the remains of moko tattooing, as seen in later examples such as Wyvern inv.2630 (fig. 1), dating to the early 19th century.
Fig 1. Tekoteko figure, Maori, New Zealand, circa early 19th century, wood; h.61 cm. Image: Wyvern Collection, UK.
While the Wyvern sculpture is of a recognised tekoteko form, its execution is somewhat freer, and the figures more sinewy, than in later developments within the tradition. Moreover, the moko displays a bold carving style that contrasts with the hyper-refined treatment of this feature in more recent sculptures (fig. 1). The eyes and mouths are particularly haunting, owing to the simplified yet powerful manner in which they have been carved.
(1) C14 testing was undertaken on the sculpture by the CIRAM Science for Art and Cultural Heritage lab in August 2017. The report was authored by Dr. Armel Bouvier.
(Text adapted from Kevin Conru, The Wyvern Collection: African & Oceanic Sculpture (Thames & Hudson), forthcoming.)
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