Pitt Rivers Museum Anthropology and World Archaology

 

Oceania

 

Hei tiki pendant

New Zealand

 

Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Given to the Museum in 1884

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Hei tiki pendant, New Zealand

Hei tiki pendants are the best-known Maori personal ornament. They are usually made of green nephrite, a form of jade. Both men and women wore them as treasured personal ornaments. The pendants are shaped into the form of human figures, which are either female or sexless. It has been suggested that they were carried to promote fertility and easy childbirth.

View database record 1884.77.7