The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Greenstone, a smooth, dark green rock tinged with brown, carved into a highly abstracted creature-like shape. The head, almost as big as the body, tilts to our left, with carved out circles as eyes, a diamond shape between them, and a beak-like mouth, somewhat worn. This figure has a rectangular torso, legs spread out the the side, and arms curving down to merge by the hips. Where details have been carved out, the rock appears black.

Pendant (Hei-tiki)

1800s

Polynesia, New Zealand, Maori people, 19th century

nephrite (greenstone)
Overall: 11.2 x 5.5 cm (4 7/16 x 2 3/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1954.147
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Hei-tiki may represent Hine-te-Iwaiwa, a legendary ancestress who is the exemplar of Māori womanhood.

Description

Among the Māori, leaders are hereditary and imbued with mana, power and prestige that can be embodied and passed down in the artworks associated with them. Hei-tiki are among these treasured, mana-charged heirlooms, which connect the living to ancestors of the islands’ pre-European past. They may represent Hine-te-Iwaiwa, a legendary ancestress who is the exemplar of Māori womanhood and the patron of childbirth.
  • Frost, Natasha. "He Calls the Tie a 'Colonia Noose.' Now Parliament Says It's No Longer Mandatory." The New York Times (February 10, 2021). www.nytimes.com
  • {{cite web|title=Pendant (Hei-tiki)|url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1954.147