Canoe Stern Piece

Model

Model canoe stern post. Elaborately carved and pierced. Dealer's label: "Taurapa sternpost." A small model carved with steel tools in the Whanganui style. Two ribs with a head at the tip, a small figurine at the base. Decoration in the ribs is two intertwined lines with pakati in the ovals between them. Purchased at auction from J. C. Stevens, London, on April 16, 1912. The catalogue description reads as follows:"Taurapa, a carved stern post of a canoe having the figure of the storm god Paikea on its upper end, and another figure called Puhi-Kai-Ariki, which looks into the canoe. These designs are always conventional and the Maori artist would consider it Aitua, or ill omen, to depart from pattern designed by his ancestors."