The Epsom Collection of Taonga Tuesday, 19 March 2024 - 6:00 PM start
A 19th Century Tauihi (Model Canoe Prow)
Estimate: $35,000 - $80,000
Lot Details
A 19th Century Tauihi (Model Canoe Prow) With standing wheku figurehead displaying a protruding tongue and ornamented with rauponga spirals carved with triple hae hae and pataki (lower section of the front leg missing). To the rear is an ancestral figure with hands clasped to the belly. The middle section is carved with the traditional pitau whakareia forms (perforated double spirals) typical of a waka taua (Maori war canoe figurehead). Painted with black pigment and embellished with cut paua shells (two missing). Minor losses. Provenance: ex Webster Collection Height 22cm. Length 43cm. Y15077
