Lifemask (Wiremu Tamihana Te Manewha)

A rare life-mask of the chief Wiremu Te Manewha, showing the deeply grooved lines of the traditional Maori tā-moko, as applied to the face. Te Manewha is said to have had his moko cut twice into his face so that the lines would be deeper. The mask was taken by the Bohemian artist Gottfried Lindauer (1839-1926) and Sir Walter Buller (1838-1906), sometime after Lindauers arrival in New Zealand in 1873. This is particularly unusual for a Māori chief of Te Manewha's generation who believed that the head was the most sacred part of the body, and never to be touched by someone outside of their immediate family. Towards the later part of the 19th century Te Manewha's moko was considered to be one of the finest living examples of the Māori 'chisel' tattoo, and among the last of his generation to be tattooed in the first quarter of the 19th century.Te Manewha, who was born in the Waikato district in the early part of the Nineteenth century, was active in military engagements in Waikato and the East Coast (North Island, New Zealand). During the 1830's he later participated in one of a series of migrations, involving several tribes and hundreds of people, to the Kapiti and Horowhenua districts in the southern part of the North Island of New Zealand. Te Manewha distinguished himself at two large-scale inter-tribal battles during this period, 'Haowhenua' (1834) and 'Kuititanga' (1839), both of which were witnessed by Europeans. These were the two last major inter-tribal battles fought in the region. Wi Te Manewha died at Otaki in November 1891 at an advanced age. His memory and legacy is continues today through his numerous descendants, many of whom still reside in the Kapiti-Horowhenua districts, and who maintain the culture and traditions of their ancestors.