© Brian Hooker 2007. The text that follows is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, no part may be reproduced without prior permission. Images must not be copied from this web site.
 

NB1.  For an enlargement click on any thumbnail within a dashed border.
NB2. Words marked with an asterisk, are explained in the glossary below.

Māori are renowned for the richness and elaboration of their visual arts, particularly in wood, fibre and greenstone.

The value of greenstone lies in its beauty and hardness. This is a result to a large degree of its mineral composition; its main characteristic is the matting and interweaving of minute mineral fibres. Greenstone is a beautiful stone - ranked as semi-precious. The qualities of nephrite and bowenite are discussed under the sub-heading below, "The material of tiki & other greenstone pendants."

One of the best-known types of Māori object is the pendant or hei tiki. These stylized human figures are carved of New Zealand nephrite and were hung from the neck on fibre strings. The eyes of the figure are inlaid with haliotis shell. It is uncertain what hei tiki represent. They have been said to represent the first man, a human embryo, or Hine-te-Iwaiwa (the Māori birthing goddess) in the birthing position.

Among Māori, stories are told of previously barren women who conceived after being given hei tiki by their husbands or other relatives, so it seems that there may well have been a strong association between hei tiki and fertility.

First let us look at the story of the Hei-tiki.* (Type "A" in this page under the heading "Types" - scroll down to Tiki-Types .) Many fallacies surround Hei-tiki. One account relates that they are often said to represent the human embryo. Another is that they are generally regarded as exclusively an ornament for women.

The truth is that they first represented ancestors and embodied the mana* of previous owners. Monkhouse's observations seem to confirm this general statement although his explanation refers to ear pendants. (See below under "Reports by early European explorers." Both Māori men and women wore tiki.

Sometimes adzes were converted into tiki especially after first contact was made with Europeans and when metal tools made stone implements obsolete. During this period from about 1780 until the 1860s trade in tiki became intense. However, it is possible to detect tiki converted from adzes.

Apparently there was no rule as to which direction the head rested in a tiki - left or right. The head is always sharply bent but occasionally it could incline to the left instead of the more usual right. The sex could vary, although male was more common. The fishtail feet could take slightly different inward curls and so also could the placement of the three-fingered hands. The aperture for hanging was often in different places so that the figure was recumbent. Variation in size was enormous. All tiki are intriguingly different which might not appear to be the case at a passing glance.

Tiki received personal names and were regarded as family heirlooms. The shape is usually related to designs used in woodcarving but they were adapted to the inflexible nature of greenstone.

The material of tiki and other greenstone pendants
 

The name greenstone is commonly used to describe the predominantly greenish-coloured rock from which Maori made tiki and other pendants. Colour in tiki and other pendants varies from a dark greenish-black through a range of leaf-green hues to a milky-white celadon tint.

New Zealand greenstone is either the mineral nephrite or bowenite* (in Māori - nephrite is pounamu* and bowenite is tangiwai*). The Maori name for the South Island is Te Wai Pounamu). James Cook was given the name Tovy-poenammu for the South Island when he carried out the first European circumnavigation of New Zealand in 1769-1770. (See below under the sub-heading, "Reports by early European explorers").

Nephrite is found in the Taramakau-Arahura region of the South Island; the Taramakau River flows northwest from the Southern Alps to reach the sea between Greymouth and Hokitika and the Aruhura River flows northwest and reaches the sea northeast of Hokitika. Some nephrite is also found in the Wakatipu area Bowenite is found as beach boulders and pebbles at Anita Bay in Milford Sound.
 

Since the term jade is restricted to nephrite and another distinct mineral, jadeite, which is not present in New Zealand, New Zealand greenstone is either nephrite or bowenite. Thus, most New Zealand greenstone, the nephrite variety, is jade. eladon tint

Maori divided greenstone into the following main varieties:

Kahurangi* - green, translucent, highly prized.
Kawakawa* - green, semi-translucent.
Inanga* - whitish, opaque. (Hence whitebait)
Tangawai* - translucent bowenite

Since April 1947 a government embargo has existed to prevent the export of unprocessed greenstone. (Reed) The purpose of this is to conserve stocks and also to encourage local manufacture of replica Maori ornaments including tiki.

Craftsmanship

In ancient times greenstone was worked by abrasion, with water, sand, and sandstone. An average size tiki, say about two and a half inches (about 6 cm), required hundreds of hours of labour. For crafting tiki and other greenstone pendants from greenstone,  Māori used a number of different tools: Saws were a thin stone assisted by wet abrasive sand. Files were made from a variety of material including sharkskin for rough polishing. For cutting, the Māori used dog's teeth. For final polishing other skins were used. According the Dodd (1969, 361), there were ten essential kinds of hand tools and the early Polynesians including the Māori used them all except one. (i.e. the plane) However, Dodd claims they used a tool, replaced today by the electric needle named the tatu tool.

Māori rapidly lost the art of working with greenstone and by the end of the 19th century it was almost a lost art. However, a few experts remained and passed the art down to the craftsmen of today.

Reports by early European explorers

The first knowledge of New Zealand greenstone, hei-tiki and other greenstone pendants was gained during James Cook's first Pacific voyage when he circumnavigated New Zealand in 1769-70 in HMB Endeavour. An entry relating to greenstone, in Cook's journal for 31 January 1770, reads:

On the Endeavour with Cook was Joseph Banks who wrote in his journal in March 1770 (in describing the garments and ornaments of the Maori people):

An artist on the Endeavour (probably Sydney Parkinson) prepared a sketch, which was later reproduced as a copper engraving. Also accompanying Cook during his first Pacific voyage on the Endeavour was William Brougham Monkhouse. Monkhouse's journal also mentions tiki:

The French explorer J. F. M. de Surville, in command of the St Jean Baptiste, visited the northern part of New Zealand, in December 1769. An entry in de Surville's journal for 18 December 1769 reads:

In 1772 another Frenchman, Marc-Joseph Marion visited New Zealand and. In command of the two ships in the expedition, the Mascarin and Marquis de Castries, Marion called first at Spirits Bay. He later anchored in the Bay of Islands. Jean Roux an ensign on board the Mascarin kept a journal of the visit and an entry in June 1772 records:

René Primavère Lesson accompanied Louis Isidore Duperrey's La Coquille expedition to New Zealand in 1824. An entry in his journal written in April 1824 records: I bought some of the jade fetishes ... (Sharp, 59)

In another reference describing the geographical makeup of New Zealand, Lesson notes: Cook, on information given him by the New Zealanders, adopted the name … Tawai-poenamou for the southern [island]. … Tawai-pouna-mou means the whale (tawai) which makes the green jade.

Sharp refers (page 91): … the name is usually taken to mean TeWaipounamu "The Water of greenstone", referring to the fact that the best greenstone (pounamou) came from the South Island.

The French explorer Dumont d'Urville visited New Zealand in the corvette l'Astrolabe, in 1827.Two Maori accompanied the explorer during part of his northward voyage off the east coast. An entry in d'Urville's journal for 30 January 1827 records: