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Lot Essay
Roger Neich nous a aimablement informé que cette sculpture, statue faîtière provenant d'une importante maison sculptée, fut réalisée par la main d'un artiste reconnu actif durant la seconde partie du XIXe siècle dont le nom n'a pas encore pu être établi. Cet artiste venait certainement de la tribu Ngati Pikiao de la confédération des tribus Te Arawa situés autour de Rotorua et du district des Lacs. Neich suggère qu'il a probablement vécu sur le Lac Rotoiri près de Otaramarae à l'extrémité ouest du lac et a travaillé, sculpté et créé des liens avec la tribu Tarawhai de la même confédération qui habitait plus loin au bord du lac Rotoiti. Une poutokomanawa (poteau d'intérieur d'une maison) par la même main dans Te Papa Tongarewa (the National Museum of New Zealand), Wellington, est illustré dans Te Maori, Maori Art from New Zealand Collections, (Meade, S.M. Ed., New York, 1984, p.198, fig.72) et aussi dans Te Toi Whakairo, The Art of Maori Carving (Meade, S.M. Ed., Auckland, 1994, p.121). Meade illustre également une photographie de deux sculpteurs avec une statue tekoteko avec une tête koruru en dessous comme dans le lot présenté ici du même artiste. Notre statue date probablement entre la fin des années 1870 et le début des années 1880.
Roger Neich has kindly informed us that this fine sculpture, a gable figure from an important carved house, is by the hand of a recognised master working in the second half of the nineteenth century whose name has so far not been established. He was certainly from the Ngati Pikiao tribe from the Te Arawa confederation of tribes around Rotorua and the lakes district. Neich suggests that he probably lived on Lake Rotoiti around Otaramarae at the western end of the lake and had working, carving and training connections with the Ngati Tarawhai tribe of the same confederation who lived further along Lake Rotoiti. A poutokomanawa (post figure from the interior of a house) by the same hand in Te Papa Tongarewa (the National Museum of New Zealand), Wellington, is illustrated in Te Maori, Maori Art from New Zealand Collections, (Meade, S.M. Ed., New York, 1984, p.198, fig.72) and also in Te Toi Whakairo, The Art of Maori Carving (Meade, S.M. Ed., Auckland, 1994, p.121). Meade also illustrates a photograph of two carvers with a tekoteko figure with a koruru face below as in the present lot, also by the same carver. Our figure probably dates from the end of the 1870s to the early 1880s.
Roger Neich has kindly informed us that this fine sculpture, a gable figure from an important carved house, is by the hand of a recognised master working in the second half of the nineteenth century whose name has so far not been established. He was certainly from the Ngati Pikiao tribe from the Te Arawa confederation of tribes around Rotorua and the lakes district. Neich suggests that he probably lived on Lake Rotoiti around Otaramarae at the western end of the lake and had working, carving and training connections with the Ngati Tarawhai tribe of the same confederation who lived further along Lake Rotoiti. A poutokomanawa (post figure from the interior of a house) by the same hand in Te Papa Tongarewa (the National Museum of New Zealand), Wellington, is illustrated in Te Maori, Maori Art from New Zealand Collections, (Meade, S.M. Ed., New York, 1984, p.198, fig.72) and also in Te Toi Whakairo, The Art of Maori Carving (Meade, S.M. Ed., Auckland, 1994, p.121). Meade also illustrates a photograph of two carvers with a tekoteko figure with a koruru face below as in the present lot, also by the same carver. Our figure probably dates from the end of the 1870s to the early 1880s.