Mangaia Ceremonial Adze with Geometric Patterns
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A Ruatangaeo pedestal adze, Mangaia, Cook Islands, early 20th century. The size and form of this ruatangaeo suggests that it May have been a ceramonial adze rather than a functional tool. This ruatangaeo has a pyramidical form. The lower section of the shaft has a sectioned hollow turret. The shaft is decorated with geometrical incised patterns. At the head of the ruatangaeo is a black basalt adze with losses that has been lashed to the shaft with sennit cord. Height 73.7 cm, width 15.2 cm, depth 16.8 cm
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- Basalt - Basalt is a hard, dense volcanic rock formed from the rapid cooling of basaltic lava, and makes up most of the earth's oceanic crust.
However it is also the name given by Josiah Wedgwood in 1768 to a fine black unglazed porcelain which he called Wedgwood Black Basalt.
Using this fine-grained stoneware he was able to produce copies of the newly excavated Etruscan pottery from Italy, with a lustrous and smooth, surface, and this new innovation proved to be a huge commercial success. - Incised - A record of a name, date or inscription, or a decoration scratched into a surface, usually of a glass or ceramic item with a blunt instrument to make a coarse indentation. Compare with engraving where the surface is cut with a sharp instrument such as a metal needle or rotating tool to achieve a fine indentation.
This item has been included into following indexes:
- Maori artefacts