The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Dark brown wood canoe prow shaped like an oval face, with a slightly open, smiling mouth, the face covered in lines that arc out from the nose, and snake-like eyes filled with pearl inlay glinting cream, pink, and green. The radiating lines curl on the cheeks and nose of the mask. Where the mask would intersect with the boat is shaped in a pyramid outline, with "NEW ZEALAND" written just below the face.

Fishing Canoe Prow

1800s

Polynesia, New Zealand, Maori people, 19th century

wood with haliotis (pearl) shell inlay
Overall: 35.3 cm (13 7/8 in.)
The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken 1967.231
Location: Not on view

Description

Intricate surface patterning characterizes Maori wood carvings. The swirls and spirals covering the face on this canoe prow replicate traditional facial tattoo patterns. Similar designs were used for post and gable figures that adorned both dwellings and compounds.
  • Harry Beasley
    Harry Beasley
  • Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. p. 117, color repr. p. 54, no. 39.
  • The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 39, p. 117, color repr. p. 54.
    Year in Review for 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).
  • {{cite web|title=Fishing Canoe Prow|url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.231