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Overview
This hei tiki (greenstone pendant) formerly belonged to the prominent Ngāi Tahu chief Matenga Taiaroa. It is particularly unusual in that it is carved on both sides. There are very few examples of double-sided hei tiki in existence.
Taiaroa
Taiaroa was born at Waihora (Lake Ellesmere), Canterbury, in the late 1790s. A warrior chief of the musket era, he was one of the leading rangatira (chiefs) to survive the devastating raids from the North Island led by Te Rauparaha (the celebrated Ngāti Toa warrior chief) from the late 1820s. On Taiaroa's death, the hei tiki passed to his son, Hori Kerei Taiaroa.
Pākehā possession
The hei tiki is likely to have been purchased from Hori Kerei Taiaroa by Dunedin born linguist and author John White in 1876. White amassed a large collection of pounamu (New Zealand greenstone), thought to be in excess of 600 pieces, much of which was subsequently sold to an English collector. However, the collector died suddenly and the collection was deposited with the Bristol Museum. Some years later, T E Donne, then New Zealand Trade Commissioner in London, bought the collection. After Donne's death in 1945, the collection was purchased by Edward Armytage, who died the following year. Half the collection was eventually purchased Kenneth Athol Webster for the Dominion Museum, with the remaining half being purchased by the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Two-faced
Donne once displayed a collection of hei tiki, including this one, to a Ngā Puhi tohunga (elder). The tohunga did not know the hei tiki was carved on both sides. Donne's description of the tohunga's reaction is startling: 'Pointing to it he said, "I do not like that one, and I would not own it, as it is full of duplicity - it is two-faced." I turned it over and showed him that it was two-faced in reality. He drew back from the table, appearing, or affecting to be ill at ease.'