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Overview
This beautiful hei tiki has been fashioned from the highly valued kahurangi (pale) variety of pounamu (New Zealand greenstone). It is the work of a master craftsman and would have taken many hours to craft by hand.
History
This hei tiki belonged to the celebrated Ngā Puhi chief Hongi Hika, who rose to prominence in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as a warrior and tribal leader. Hongi presented it to the Reverend Basil Woodd during a visit to England in 1820 with the missionary Thomas Kendall. During his visit, Hongi assisted professor Samuel Lee in compiling a Māori dictionary at Cambridge University, and was later introduced to King George IV who presented him with a suit of armour. He also acquired a cache of muskets, the object of his visit, which he later used to devastating effect to exact utu (retribution) against established tribal enemies. These events triggered an arms race among the northern tribes of New Zealand, resulting in a protracted period of inter-tribal warfare throughout the North Island.
Theories of origin
Various forms of tiki figure are common throughout western and eastern Polynesia, and the form can be found in the wood carving of different Pacific island groups. However, the meaning of the Māori hei tiki pendant is obscure. One theory is that hei tiki represent Hine-te-iwaiwa, a celebrated ancestress associated with fertility and the virtuous qualities of Māori womanhood. Another theory is that hei tiki represent Tiki, the first man. A further suggestion is that they represent the unborn embryo, particularly children that are stillborn.
An iconic symbol
Hei tiki have become iconic emblems of both the Māori people and New Zealand. In the 1960s and 1970s, green plastic hei tiki were routinely distributed to passengers flying on New Zealand's national airline, and one of the enduring photographic moments recording the Beatles 1964 visit to New Zealand depicts the 'fab-four' wearing giant tiki around their necks.