CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Pendant <Jewellery> | hei tiki
Hei tiki
About the object
Ornamental pendants of this kind are called hei tiki and were worn by the Maori as a commemorative sign to honour the memory of deceased relatives and their cultural identity. They were valuable family possessions and passed down through generations. The head of the figure is inclined toward the shoulder and has been fitted with a hole at the top through which a string of flax is pulled in traditional use. The legs are angled, with touching heels, the arms resting on the thighs. The figure is thus consistent with the traditional form and, like most hei tiki, is gender-neutral. Both eyes are inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
see less
see more
The Maori of New Zealand wore tikis on a string of flax and a clasp made of bones as a token of remembrance of deceased relatives. The small squatting figures made of nephrite were valuable family possessions passed down through generations. Tiki means "carved human figure", hei stands for "hanging". Formally speaking, tikis are similar in appearance: inclined head, bent legs, heels pressed together, arched belly and hands resting on the thighs. Older specimens have eyes lined with haliotis, later on sealing wax was often used for this purpose. The figures are mostly gender-neutral, a few are female. They were worn by both men and women. The oldest specimens date from the 16th century. Tikis have been very popular souvenirs since James Cook first visited New Zealand in 1769. The Maori quickly realised how much Europeans valued these objects and were happy to trade them for coveted goods, such as iron tools. They quickly began to produce tikis for the trade in larger quantities. The blades of nephrite axes were also used: they had become superfluous due to the use of iron axes, and the raw material was difficult to obtain. The shape of the axe blade can be seen very clearly on the Freiburg specimen. Since the middle of the 19th century, gemstone cutters in Idar-Oberstein in Rhineland-Palatinate have been producing tikis made of New Zealand nephrite, which were then exported and sold in New Zealand as original Maori objects to tourists and collectors. These connections were researched and unearthed by the ethnology professor Rolf Herzog from Freiburg, who died in 2006. This also means that some of the Hei Tikis in European museums may well originate from Idar-Oberstein. Author: Margarete Brüll, Translation: Timothy Connell