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拍品專文
Cette remarquable statue faîtière représente un élément figuratif surmontant un panneau, finement sculpté, illustrant en relief deux autres figures féminines, manaïa, et un visage wheku à la base. Ce type de sculptures ornait autrefois le sommet de la façade d’une maison de chef, d’un grenier (pataka) appartenant à ce dernier, ou d’une maison de réunion (whare whakairo). Dans la symbolique Maori, la maison représente le corps d’un ancêtre et la statue faîtière, la tête. Les traits réalistes du visage et les motifs de tatouages personnalisés (moko) évoquent ici le portrait d’un chef guerrier dont les cheveux, sous la forme d’une perruque, étaient autrefois attachés à la protubérance percée ornant le sommet de la tête. La présence de cet élément est intrigante pour une sculpture censée être exposée en extérieur. Contrairement à d’autres tekoteko connus, notre exemplaire partage ce détail avec les sculptures identifiées comme des figures de poteaux (poutokomanawa), placées à l’intérieur des maisons de chefs, ou des représentations individuelles d’ancêtres, généralement ornées d’une perruque attachée au sommet de la tête (cf. collections des Glasgow Museums, inv. n° A.1948.105).
Alors que la majorité des tekoteko, répertoriés comme provenant des cases cérémonielles ou des demeures d’un noble, représente une figure debout surmontant, soit une autre figure tridimensionnelle, soit un visage wheku, notre exemplaire possède une longue base sous la forme d’un panneau, orné en haut-relief de deux figures entières. Le British Museum possède un tekoteko similaire, appelé tekoteko pataka car il ornait autrefois la façade d’un grenier (pataka) (inv. n° OC 1895-347). Dans ce cas, il s’agit également d’une statue se tenant debout sur un panneau d’une longueur analogue se terminant par un visage wheku. Bien que le panneau conservé au British Museum soit plus sobrement décoré, le type de tekoteko semble être le même que celui présenté ici. Sur le plan stylistique, les motifs décoratifs de notre oeuvre sont comparables à ceux ornant certains des plus beaux panneaux de pataka, tels ceux des anciens greniers comme le Te Oha, L’Abondante, construit vers 1820, où ceux qui décoraient la pataka Te Kaha, dont les sculptures remontent avant 1770-1780. « Si l’on retrouve [chez les Maori] une mise en valeur [esthétique] des greniers, c’est probablement parce que la capacité d’assurer l’abondance [alimentaire] comptait parmi les responsabilités principales de celui qui occupait le premier rang au sein de la communauté ; cette exigence sociale s’imposait au chef autant que la construction et la décoration d’une maison cérémonielle. » (Archey, G., Whaowhia: Maori Art and its Artists, 1977, p. 50)
This remarkable gable figure represents a dynamic figurative element at the top of an elaborately carved panel illustrating two further female manaia-like figures in high relief standing on a wheku face at the bottom. Sculptures of this kind were intended to impress and radiate prestige, and were generally placed at the top of the façade of either a chief’s house, a personal store house (pataka) belonging to an important chief, or of a meeting house (whare whakairo). Symbolically the house represents the body of a primal ancestor with the gable figure representing the head of the ancestor.
The figure at the top has boldly incised surface design to the face representing tattoo patterns (moko). Its realistic features represent a form of portraiture, as the tattoo patterns indicate a warrior chief whose hair in the form of a wig, now lost, was in this case attached to the lug at the top of its head. This is an intriguing detail as unlike other known tekoteko, from which this distinctive feature is absent, our present work shares this element only with sculptures that have been identified either as post figures (poutokomanawa) from chief’s houses or free standing representations of ancestors, where a hair wig was almost invariably attached to the top of the head (consider the example from the Glasgow Museums Collection, inv. no. A.1948.105).
While most tekoteko represent one figure free standing on another three-dimensional figure or simply a wheku face, the present work displays the extraordinary feature of its long base in panel form with two figures carved in high relief. The British Museum possesses a comparable tekoteko that once decorated the façade of a storehouse (pataka), hence called tekoteko pataka (inv. no. OC 1895-347). It represents a comparable figure standing on top of a similarly long panel ending with a wheku face at the bottom. While the panel of the British Museum example is less decorated, the type of tekoteko seems to be the same as ours, indicating that our present work was likely a gable ornament of an important community foodstore. The decoration on the subject work is comparable in terms of artistic accomplishment to some of the most beautifully carved side panels of pataka, as those found on old decorated foodstores such as Te Oha, The Abundant, erected around 1820, or those that belonged to the Te Kaha pataka, whose carvings are dated to a period earlier than 1770-1780. “If enhancement of prosaic food-storage could find a place [among the Maori people], it was probably because the securing of abundance was a social matter of chiefly concern and responsibility, and of the expected status of the leader of the community, a provision equal in importance to the building and adornment of a meeting house.” (Archey, G., Whaowhia. Maori Art and Its Artists, 1977, p. 50).
Alors que la majorité des tekoteko, répertoriés comme provenant des cases cérémonielles ou des demeures d’un noble, représente une figure debout surmontant, soit une autre figure tridimensionnelle, soit un visage wheku, notre exemplaire possède une longue base sous la forme d’un panneau, orné en haut-relief de deux figures entières. Le British Museum possède un tekoteko similaire, appelé tekoteko pataka car il ornait autrefois la façade d’un grenier (pataka) (inv. n° OC 1895-347). Dans ce cas, il s’agit également d’une statue se tenant debout sur un panneau d’une longueur analogue se terminant par un visage wheku. Bien que le panneau conservé au British Museum soit plus sobrement décoré, le type de tekoteko semble être le même que celui présenté ici. Sur le plan stylistique, les motifs décoratifs de notre oeuvre sont comparables à ceux ornant certains des plus beaux panneaux de pataka, tels ceux des anciens greniers comme le Te Oha, L’Abondante, construit vers 1820, où ceux qui décoraient la pataka Te Kaha, dont les sculptures remontent avant 1770-1780. « Si l’on retrouve [chez les Maori] une mise en valeur [esthétique] des greniers, c’est probablement parce que la capacité d’assurer l’abondance [alimentaire] comptait parmi les responsabilités principales de celui qui occupait le premier rang au sein de la communauté ; cette exigence sociale s’imposait au chef autant que la construction et la décoration d’une maison cérémonielle. » (Archey, G., Whaowhia: Maori Art and its Artists, 1977, p. 50)
This remarkable gable figure represents a dynamic figurative element at the top of an elaborately carved panel illustrating two further female manaia-like figures in high relief standing on a wheku face at the bottom. Sculptures of this kind were intended to impress and radiate prestige, and were generally placed at the top of the façade of either a chief’s house, a personal store house (pataka) belonging to an important chief, or of a meeting house (whare whakairo). Symbolically the house represents the body of a primal ancestor with the gable figure representing the head of the ancestor.
The figure at the top has boldly incised surface design to the face representing tattoo patterns (moko). Its realistic features represent a form of portraiture, as the tattoo patterns indicate a warrior chief whose hair in the form of a wig, now lost, was in this case attached to the lug at the top of its head. This is an intriguing detail as unlike other known tekoteko, from which this distinctive feature is absent, our present work shares this element only with sculptures that have been identified either as post figures (poutokomanawa) from chief’s houses or free standing representations of ancestors, where a hair wig was almost invariably attached to the top of the head (consider the example from the Glasgow Museums Collection, inv. no. A.1948.105).
While most tekoteko represent one figure free standing on another three-dimensional figure or simply a wheku face, the present work displays the extraordinary feature of its long base in panel form with two figures carved in high relief. The British Museum possesses a comparable tekoteko that once decorated the façade of a storehouse (pataka), hence called tekoteko pataka (inv. no. OC 1895-347). It represents a comparable figure standing on top of a similarly long panel ending with a wheku face at the bottom. While the panel of the British Museum example is less decorated, the type of tekoteko seems to be the same as ours, indicating that our present work was likely a gable ornament of an important community foodstore. The decoration on the subject work is comparable in terms of artistic accomplishment to some of the most beautifully carved side panels of pataka, as those found on old decorated foodstores such as Te Oha, The Abundant, erected around 1820, or those that belonged to the Te Kaha pataka, whose carvings are dated to a period earlier than 1770-1780. “If enhancement of prosaic food-storage could find a place [among the Maori people], it was probably because the securing of abundance was a social matter of chiefly concern and responsibility, and of the expected status of the leader of the community, a provision equal in importance to the building and adornment of a meeting house.” (Archey, G., Whaowhia. Maori Art and Its Artists, 1977, p. 50).