A rare cloak woven from harakeke and kiwi feathers – a kahu kiwi – has returned to Aotearoa for good, and will be auctioned to the highest bidder on August 3.
The cloak is believed to have been handcrafted by a woman in the mid-1800s. It’s been in Sydney, Australia with one family for some 160 years.
That family has been working closely with Webb’s auction house for several months to get the cloak back into New Zealand.
“It is time and only proper that this taonga whaiaro be returned to its country of origin to take its place in Māori history,” the vendor, who is anonymous, told Webb’s.
The kahu kiwi is hand-woven from muka fibres – the fibres from prepared harakeke – in something called the whatu, or the single-pair twinning technique.
There is a 30mm border on each side of the cloak featuring black and red wool threads woven in a diamond pattern. At the top is a black and red wool twisted detail.
On the bottom are remnants of a black dyed muka tāniko pattern, possibly a niho taniwha design. Webb’s said this pattern is broadly identified as belonging to Te Arawa and Waikato iwi.
“Each feather has been woven individually into the muka in rows approximately 10mm apart, and while there are some small patches of thinning, overall the cloak still has an exquisitely lush look and feel,” Webb’s director of decorative arts Ben Erren, said.
“At some point a rich purple brocade fabric was also sewn into its interior, likely to protect the muka from stress.”
Now the cloak is in New Zealand, it’s being registered under the Protected Objects Act 1975. This protects it from being exported again.
It can be sold within Aotearoa but only between registered collectors of taonga tūturu (protected objects found before April 1, 1976 that whakapapa to Te Ao Māori) and it may not leave these shores.
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage (Manatū Taonga) monitors privately owned taonga tūturu and their trade.
It works with iwi and hapū to support decisions on long-term ownership and custody for taonga that is found, often during archaeological or construction projects.
Manatū Taonga also helps iwi and hapū-led conservation projects for extremely vulnerable taonga tūturu.
They might conserve taonga “through indigenous methods, through established museum conventions, or by connecting to their uri through art, music, education, and other alternative interpretations,” Manatū Taonga says on its website.
Taonga like these must have special “Y” registration from an authorised museum, which allows them to be sold through licensed dealers or auctioneers like Webb’s.
Those dealers or auctioneers are responsible for getting the registration before the sale. Webb’s got the Y registration for this kahu kiwi from Auckland Museum.
(The only authorised museums are: Auckland Museum, Te Papa, Canterbury Museum and Otago Museum.)
Then, when a taonga tūturu is bought or sold, the owners are required to tell Manatū Taonga within 14 days of a change in their collection.
The upcoming auction is called Material Culture, and the kahu kiwi is amongst the most exciting pieces on sale.
It’s expected to fetch between $30,000 and $50,000 at auction.
The owner who is auctioning the cloak believes it was bought by their great-great-grandfather in Adelaide, South Australia.
It was passed down the generations until it reached them when their mother died in 2022.
They and their siblings remember the cloak fondly but want to return it to Aotearoa.
“We regularly work closely with vendors who are passionate about repatriating taonga back to Aotearoa, and such was the case here with our private collector – a family in Sydney,” Erren said.
“We also work closely with the ministry to register items that are presented to us to provide a safeguard that disallows them from leaving Aotearoa.
“There are many, many such items of taonga that have left our shores over the years and arrived in countries throughout Europe and elsewhere.”
Erren said he feels confident the cloak was traded, not looted, he added.
-Stuff