Hei Matau (fish hook)

Hei matau are stylised fish hook neck pendants, usually made from pounamu (New Zealand greenstone). This hei matau is made from the inanga (milky white) variety of pounamu. The source of the pounamu has been identified as Westland, on the West Coast of the South Island. The elaborately carved crown is where a line would normally be bound on a functional fish hook, but in this case it is entirely decorative. The barb point has been decorated with delicate notching.

Symbolic representations
Hei matau are symbolic representations of the fish hook used by the ancestral Polynesian cultural hero Māui. According to legend, Māui hauled up the North Island of New Zealand, Te-Ika-a-Māui (the great fish of Māui), from the depths of the ocean during a fishing expedition with his brothers. Hei matau also denote the importance of fishing to Māori, and their relationship to Tangaroa (the guardian of the sea and its environs).