A Fine Maori Whakawae A Fine Maori Whakawae By Robert Paterson This outstanding example of a carved Maori doorjamb (whakawae) is in typical Te Arawa style from the central North Island region of New Zealand. It belongs to the classic period and likely dates from the end of the eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century. It has a dark brown, aged patina and measures 31 inches high, four inches wide, and five inches deep. It appears to have been cut off around the lower part of the second figure. This may have been either due to rot below that area or in order for it to be fitted into the door or other aperture of another newly built house. The attribution of an early date to this whakawae can be based on its distinguished provenance. It was once in the collection of Sir Francis John Ford (1818–1850). Sir Francis married Cornelia Maria Darling (1819–1896), the eldest daughter of General Sir Ralph Darling (1792- 1858), who was governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. During that period Darling was a friend of the explorer Sir William Edward Parry (1790–1855), who lived in New South Wales from 1829 to 1834. Darling acquired several Maori artifacts (including hei-tiki) from Parry in 1830, and this whakawae likely formed part of that acquisition. It then passed through the Ford family by descent and was sold by the English dealer Phillip Murphy in the 1990s. A number of other Maori artifacts from the Ford family were sold at Christie’s London on June 29, 1983 (lots 50 to 63). Whakawae were elaborately carved individual door frame sections surrounding the doors—and sometimes the windows—of storehouses (pataka) and chiefs’ houses (whare rangatira). They were intended to emphasize the cultural importance of such structures, which were given individual names. After the arrival of the missionaries at the start of the nineteenth century, the carving skills that had previously been invested in canoe building were applied to the carvings that were part of these elaborate houses. Such was the importance attached to whakawae that they were sometimes saved from damaged or destroyed houses and incorporated into newly built structures. Whakawae have been recovered from swamps and caves where they were taken to safety. Some were also acquired from abandoned fortified villages (pa), especially during the New Zealand wars (1845 to 1872). Maori Woman Twisting Flax by Thomas Pringle circa 1905 Maori tradition traces the Te Arawa people to the arrival of the great Arawa canoe in the Bay of Plenty around 1350 CE. The descendants of these first peoples initially settled in the central area of the North Island of New Zealand. The figures on this whakawae represent ancestors of important tribal (iwi) members. Their carved representation served to protect the important people and valuable objects inside the house and to define the boundary between its sacred (tapu) interior space and the threats posed by the outside world. See W. J. Phillipps, “Carved Houses of the Te Arawa,” Dominion Museum Records in Ethnology, vol. 1;1&2 (Wellington, 1946). The Arawa carving style is varied and complex. The wheku was the commonest form of figure. The planes above the eyes bring them into high relief. The tongue is large and curved to one side. The teeth are prominent but no sex is indicated. As with our carving, the hands of Arawa figures usually have three fingers and the thumb comprises a backward prolongation of the first finger. The figures have short legs. Some whakawae have flanges in the form of a protruding side ridge which may have functioned to support or attach the figured pillar. These flanges often display spiral designs or manaia (a mythological creature). Of the seven whakawae in the Maori collections of the British Museum, three have flanges of varying form. See D. Starzecka, R. Neich and N. Pendergrast, The Maori Collections of the British Museum (London, 2010) 37 to 38 and plates 140 to 145. Maori woman sitting on a storehouse decorated with carvings, circa 1950s. The present whakawae can be usefully compared with similar examples in important public and private collections: The Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania has an important Maori collection mainly sourced from renowned English dealer W. O. Oldman between 1910 and 1936. One Arawa door jamb in its collection was purchased from Oldman in 1912 and consists of four figures and a flange with spirals and manaia. It is 60 inches high. See D. R. Simmons, Catalogue of Maori Artifacts in the Museums of Canada and the United States of America (Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum, No. 12, Auckland,1982) 325 and plate 230a. The Oldman Collection of Maori artifacts that was purchased by New Zealand in 1948 included part of a whakawae with side flanges. This cut-down and incomplete example illustrates how important whakawae were treasured and repurposed. It measures 51 inches high. See Skilled Handwork of the Maori, Being the Oldman Collection of Maori Artifacts Illustrated and Described, Memoirs of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 14 (2nd ed. Wellington,1946) 26 and plate 71. The National Museum of Ireland has three whakawae in its Maori collections, measuring from 25 to 27 inches in height. All are cruder than our example but have two figures. One of them has an eroded base. These door jambs came from the Bay of Plenty and were acquired by the museum in 1880 from the Royal Dublin Society Collection. See Stella Cherry, Te Ao Maori - the Maori World (Dublin, 1990) 54 to 55. The collections of the Rotorua Museum, in New Zealand, focus on Te Arawa tribal material. A 38-inch whakawae in the collection comes from a house built around 1830 with iron tools for an Arawa chieftainess. It resembles our example and depicts two of her ancestors in the form of guardian figures. See Sydney Moko Mead, Te Maori - Maori Art from New Zealand Collections (New York, 1984) 197 and fig. 71. The Manchester Museum has a whakawae with two figures (one male and the other female). It is thought to date from around 1830 and to be from the East Coast region of the North Island. It is 23 inches high and was collected by Charles Heape (1848–1926) and given to Manchester in 1923. See George Bankes, Aotearoa: the Maori Collections at the Manchester Museum (Manchester, 1970) 10. A few whakawae have been sold at auction over the years. Charles Mack’s Polynesian Art at Auction 1965–1980 (Northboro,1982) 106, depicts two examples, both with side flanges. One sold at Sotheby’s in London in 1980 resembles our figure in being typical Arawa style from the central North Island region (34 inches high). Compared with the whakawae described above, the present jamb is a fine example of the Te Arawa carving style with pronounced and dramatic features. Its provenance supports the conclusion that it dates to around the beginning of the nineteenth century or earlier.
