Gable Peak Figure (teko teko)circa 1800

Not on view

Tall vertical wooden sculpture with weathered gray surface, depicting two stacked figures with inlaid turquoise shell eyes and open, toothed mouths

Māori wooden tiki figure with deeply carved koru and spiral surface patterns, inlaid pāua shell eyes, and exposed teeth; weathered dark wood with a small secondary figure held at the torso.

Title: Gable Peak Figure (teko teko)
Culture: Maori
Place Made: New Zealand (Aotearoa)
Date Made: circa 1800
Medium: Wood, shell, human teeth, and traces of pigment
Dimensions: 38 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 3 in. (97.79 x 13.97 x 7.62 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.2008.66.18
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Art of the Pacific
Curatorial Notes: Gallery Label
The tohunga, or high-status craftsmen, made this teko teko gable figure in the eighteenth-century classic Maori period. The commissioned work was typical of the many carved elements placed at the top of meeting houses and storehouses. These figures were meant to be seen from below, and proportions were carved accordingly. The two male figures are standing, one upon the other, the lower figure with a projecting tongue, and the upper with an open mouth containing human teeth. The eyes are shell inlay. These additions are quite prominent because of their lighter coloring against the darker wood of the carving. The figures, which are covered in carved bird symbols known to the Maori and common curvilinear tattoo motifs, represented protective ancestor spirits.
New Zealand wood carvings were carefully accomplished and often highly decorated. Many Maori society carved objects had strong symbolic motifs added to them; these curving designs enhanced the power of the object. The inclusion of human figures also denotes the importance of human design in Maori art and indicates the important place of ancestors. Maori society, like other closely related Polynesian cultures, is broken down into chiefly descent lines that are inherited and immobile. The chiefs often had full facial tattoos that expressed rank and powerful mana, or the energizing life force in Polynesia. Moko, the facial tattoo, is male-specific when covering the entire face, and the presence of the moko on gable figures shows the status of important males being represented as ancestral spirits, as well as the power of the owner to command such symbolism.
Provenance: James Thomas Hooper (1897–1971), London, in 1932 (sale, London, Christie’s, 21 June 1977, lot 123). Wayne Heathcote (b. 1943), New York, NY, sold to; Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection. [Seattle]: University of Washington Press, 1994.

Gable Peak Figure (teko teko)circa 1800

Not on view

Title: Gable Peak Figure (teko teko)
Culture: Maori
Place Made: New Zealand (Aotearoa)
Date Made: circa 1800
Medium: Wood, shell, human teeth, and traces of pigment
Dimensions: 38 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 3 in. (97.79 x 13.97 x 7.62 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.2008.66.18
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Art of the Pacific
Curatorial Notes: Gallery Label
The tohunga, or high-status craftsmen, made this teko teko gable figure in the eighteenth-century classic Maori period. The commissioned work was typical of the many carved elements placed at the top of meeting houses and storehouses. These figures were meant to be seen from below, and proportions were carved accordingly. The two male figures are standing, one upon the other, the lower figure with a projecting tongue, and the upper with an open mouth containing human teeth. The eyes are shell inlay. These additions are quite prominent because of their lighter coloring against the darker wood of the carving. The figures, which are covered in carved bird symbols known to the Maori and common curvilinear tattoo motifs, represented protective ancestor spirits.
New Zealand wood carvings were carefully accomplished and often highly decorated. Many Maori society carved objects had strong symbolic motifs added to them; these curving designs enhanced the power of the object. The inclusion of human figures also denotes the importance of human design in Maori art and indicates the important place of ancestors. Maori society, like other closely related Polynesian cultures, is broken down into chiefly descent lines that are inherited and immobile. The chiefs often had full facial tattoos that expressed rank and powerful mana, or the energizing life force in Polynesia. Moko, the facial tattoo, is male-specific when covering the entire face, and the presence of the moko on gable figures shows the status of important males being represented as ancestral spirits, as well as the power of the owner to command such symbolism.
Provenance: James Thomas Hooper (1897–1971), London, in 1932 (sale, London, Christie’s, 21 June 1977, lot 123). Wayne Heathcote (b. 1943), New York, NY, sold to; Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection. [Seattle]: University of Washington Press, 1994.