Māori, New Zealand
18th century
Wood
Length: 23 3/4 in. (60.3 cm)
Provenance: Merton Simpson, New York
The papahou is the carved base panel of a Māori treasure box, used to store taonga, or valued objects including feathers, ornaments, and items of personal and ancestral significance. These containers were among the most prestigious objects in Māori material culture, their surfaces treated as fields for sustained and complex carving that encoded genealogical and cosmological meaning. The base panel, which formed the foundation of the box, was carved with the same attention as the lid, the full surface treated as a continuous composition.
The panel is carved in deep relief across its full length with interlocking manaia figures, scrolling koru forms, and a dense field of curvilinear ornament worked with precision and depth throughout. The wood has developed a deep aged brown patina with surface wear consistent with sustained cultural use over a significant period, the detail remaining crisp beneath the patina. The piece is mounted on a custom ebonized display base.
Merton Simpson was one of the foremost dealers in tribal and Oceanic art in twentieth-century New York, and objects that passed through his gallery carry a provenance recognized within the field as a marker of quality and authenticity. The scale of this panel, at nearly two feet in length, places it among the larger documented papahou bases in the known corpus. The carving quality and depth of relief are consistent with the highest tier of eighteenth-century Māori woodwork.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Māori, New Zealand
18th century
Wood
Length: 23 3/4 in. (60.3 cm)
Provenance: Merton Simpson, New York
The papahou is the carved base panel of a Māori treasure box, used to store taonga, or valued objects including feathers, ornaments, and items of personal and ancestral significance. These containers were among the most prestigious objects in Māori material culture, their surfaces treated as fields for sustained and complex carving that encoded genealogical and cosmological meaning. The base panel, which formed the foundation of the box, was carved with the same attention as the lid, the full surface treated as a continuous composition.
The panel is carved in deep relief across its full length with interlocking manaia figures, scrolling koru forms, and a dense field of curvilinear ornament worked with precision and depth throughout. The wood has developed a deep aged brown patina with surface wear consistent with sustained cultural use over a significant period, the detail remaining crisp beneath the patina. The piece is mounted on a custom ebonized display base.
Merton Simpson was one of the foremost dealers in tribal and Oceanic art in twentieth-century New York, and objects that passed through his gallery carry a provenance recognized within the field as a marker of quality and authenticity. The scale of this panel, at nearly two feet in length, places it among the larger documented papahou bases in the known corpus. The carving quality and depth of relief are consistent with the highest tier of eighteenth-century Māori woodwork.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
