A Very Fine Maori Whalebone ‘Kotiate Paraoa’ of Exceptional Size

Period: 1800-1850

Medium: Shell, Whalebone

Dimension: 39.5 cm (15¹/₂ inches)

Provenance: Ex Lyon and Turnbull, Edinburgh, 30 June 2010 (entered from a private collection in Glasgow)
Ex Private collection

Literature: War to the Maori was a form of serious sport carried out under firmly established rules using a limited range of weapons. Their chosen weapons required a very high degree of physical fitness and were only effective if used with considerable dexterity. War was regarded as a contest of skill rather than a bloody fight to the death. The preparations for war were ritualised and lasted far longer than the battles themselves. Invocations to the Gods, strict observance of all measures needed to appropriate all the evil influences, the composing of insulting ‘Ngeri’ to be chanted in the face of the enemy, could occupy a whole community for weeks.