Lintel

18131A

From: New Zealand

Curatorial Section: Oceanian

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Native Name Pare | Kōrupe
Object Number 18131A
Current Location Collections Storage
Culture Maori
Provenience New Zealand
Period Te Huringa I Period
Date Made 1800 - 1900 CE
Section Oceanian
Materials Totara Wood (Podocarpus totara) | Abalone
Description

A wooden pare (door lintel) or kōrupe (window lintel) made of one rectangular piece of wood. Openwork carving, central motif of three figures with upraised arms. Each hand has the head of a manaia (spiritual guardian). Each figure is separated from the other by takarangi (double spiral) spirals. Each figure has pāua (abalone) shell eyes. Underneath the figures is a panel of rauponga (a combination of haehae, parallel lines, and pakati, dog tooth notches) surface decoration with manaia (spiritual guardian) figures at either end of the panel. The manaia have pāua (abalone) shell eyes.

Pare and korupe are important architectural elements relating to a wharenui (meeting house). The pare is a carved lintel hung above the doorway, often symbolizing protection and serving as a spiritual threshold between the outside world and the sacred interior of the building. The korupe is a carved lintel hung above a window. It can consist of carvings that are made to represent ancestors or elements of spiritual protection.

According to notes made by the collector C.D. Voy, the lintel was formerly on a Māori chief's house.

Length 121 cm
Width 44 cm
Credit Line Gift of William Pepper, 1891
Other Number 42 - Other Number

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