Title / object name Wakahuia (treasure box)
| Maker | Role | Date |
| Unknown | carver | 1800-1850 |
Materials wood
| Dimensions |
| Overall | 125 (Height) x 560 (Length) x 180 (Width/Depth) mm |
Classification containers, personalia
Technique woodcarving
Registration Number ME023812
Credit LinePurchased 2005
A beautiful and intricately carved wakahuia (oval shaped personal treasure box) that exemplifies chisel carving of the early nineteenth century. The carving patterns depicted are bold rauru double-spirals with rows of clear-lined haehae grooving punctuated with the three-pointed foot like motif known as puwerewere (spider) or pakura (swamp-hen), and niho-taniwha (dragons tooth) notching.
The carving may have been done using either stone (nephrite greenstone) chisels, or possibly even a flat bladed piece of iron or steel re-fashioned into a chisel; and is indicative of the work of a master carver practising before the adoption of 'V' bladed European chisels.
This wakahuia is believed to have been collected by a nobleman from the Italian town of Genoa, who acquired it in New Zealand as a 'traveler's curios', while on a 'gentlemen's' tour of the world about 1850.