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Overview
This is a beautiful example of a kiwi (New Zealand's national bird: Apteryx sp.) feather cloak with a traditionally dyed black and brown tāniko (embroidery or weaving in a geometric pattern) woven border. It also has feathers from the kākā (bush parrot: Nestor meridionalis ssp.) and kererū (New Zealand wood pigeon: Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) woven into the border to add a splash of colour.
Tāniko
Tāniko refers to any woven or embroidered ornamental border and is typically found on mats and clothes. Tāniko patterns are always geometric because they can be reduced down to small coloured squares repeated on a lattice framework. These base squares make up the larger diamond and triangle shapes that are visible in all tāniko designs.
Significance
Kāhu huruhuru (feather cloaks) do not appear in any of the images and descriptions by Pākehā artists in the first half of the nineteenth century. For example, the British artist George French Angas, who in 1844 created a large and representative number of paintings, including 114 Māori subjects dressed in cloaks, did not paint a single kāhu huruhuru. This implies that the present form of kāhu huruhuru did not exist at that time. It was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that kāhu huruhuru suddenly appeared when photographic recording became fashionable. While their origin is unknown, by the 1880s kāhu huruhuru had become the most coveted prestige garments. They ushered in a new era of experimentation and colour in weaving, which became more pronounced when the feathers of introduced birds like the peacock began to be used.