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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT AMERICAN COLLECTION
Lot 26
Maori Figure, New Zealand
21 November – 5 December 2024, 12:00 PST
Online, Los AngelesUS$12,000 - US$18,000
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Maori Figure, New Zealand
tekoteko
Wood
Height 10in (25.3cm)
Provenance
Reverend Alfred Fairbrother (1853-1937), collected in 1883-1886 while serving as a Baptist Maori Missionary in the Rotorua region
Skinner, Boston, 26 September 2009, Lot 195
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels
Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 9 November 2016, Lot 105
Private Collection, United States
Rev. Fairbrother was living in New Zealand on expedition with the Baptist church in the 1880s. The 1886 eruption of the volcano "Mt. Tarawera" destroyed the small Maori village and forced his leave. Upon his departure, the chief of the tribe bestowed upon him several hand-carved idols, tools and weapons.
Of remarkable force with dynamic volumes for a sculpture of its size, the figure is intricately carved with archetypal proportionally large head with deeply grooved eyes, flared nostrils and open mouth; the torso arching away from the back vertical support with proportionally large, four-fingered hands resting on the rounded abdomen above legs with muscular thighs and flattened kneecaps; fine aged dark brown patina with wear indicative of significant age.
Wood
Height 10in (25.3cm)
Provenance
Reverend Alfred Fairbrother (1853-1937), collected in 1883-1886 while serving as a Baptist Maori Missionary in the Rotorua region
Skinner, Boston, 26 September 2009, Lot 195
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels
Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 9 November 2016, Lot 105
Private Collection, United States
Rev. Fairbrother was living in New Zealand on expedition with the Baptist church in the 1880s. The 1886 eruption of the volcano "Mt. Tarawera" destroyed the small Maori village and forced his leave. Upon his departure, the chief of the tribe bestowed upon him several hand-carved idols, tools and weapons.
Of remarkable force with dynamic volumes for a sculpture of its size, the figure is intricately carved with archetypal proportionally large head with deeply grooved eyes, flared nostrils and open mouth; the torso arching away from the back vertical support with proportionally large, four-fingered hands resting on the rounded abdomen above legs with muscular thighs and flattened kneecaps; fine aged dark brown patina with wear indicative of significant age.














