Whiria Whētoi Pōmare II?, Ngāpuhi

A companion portrait of this chief from the same sitting was used by artist Gottfried Lindauer for his representation of the Ngā Puhi chief Whiria Pōmare (Pōmare II), nephew of the renown warrior chief Whētoi Pōmare (Pōmare I).

 

In fact, Whiria Pōmare (Pōmare II) died in 1850, about the same time that photography arrived in New Zealand. It is possible that this photograph is a reproduction of a daguerreotype photographic plate taken about the time of Pōmare’s death; or it may be someone else of the same name, or erroneously identified as Pōmare. It remains unclear.

 

He is well tattooed man in a manner consistent with a chief of high social status and executed by a tohunga-ta-moko (master artist) of ability typical of the mid-nineteenth century.