Caption to Maori portrait
Notes: Tā moko is the permanent body and face marking by Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Traditionally it is distinct from tattoo and tatau, in that the skin was carved by uhi (chisels) rather than punctured. This left the skin with grooves, rather than a smooth surface.
Captain James Cook wrote in 1769:
The marks in general are spirals drawn with great nicety and even elegance. One side corresponds with the other. The marks on the body resemble foliage in old chased ornaments, convolutions of filigree work, but in these they have such a luxury of forms that of a hundred which at first appeared exactly the same no two were formed alike on close examination.
The Tohunga tā moko (or tattooists) were considered tapu, or exceptionally inviolable and sacred.
Format: albumen photoprint, 125 mm x 200 mm
Date Range: 1880s
Location: somewhere in New Zealand
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons.
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library - library.bmcc.nsw.gov.au
Part of: Local Studies Collection
Provenance: the McBroom album
Links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81_moko
australianmuseum.net.au/the-meaning-of-ta-moko-maori-tatt...
www.teara.govt.nz/en/ta-moko-maori-tattooing/page-1
Caption to Maori portrait
Notes: Tā moko is the permanent body and face marking by Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Traditionally it is distinct from tattoo and tatau, in that the skin was carved by uhi (chisels) rather than punctured. This left the skin with grooves, rather than a smooth surface.
Captain James Cook wrote in 1769:
The marks in general are spirals drawn with great nicety and even elegance. One side corresponds with the other. The marks on the body resemble foliage in old chased ornaments, convolutions of filigree work, but in these they have such a luxury of forms that of a hundred which at first appeared exactly the same no two were formed alike on close examination.
The Tohunga tā moko (or tattooists) were considered tapu, or exceptionally inviolable and sacred.
Format: albumen photoprint, 125 mm x 200 mm
Date Range: 1880s
Location: somewhere in New Zealand
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons.
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library - library.bmcc.nsw.gov.au
Part of: Local Studies Collection
Provenance: the McBroom album
Links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81_moko
australianmuseum.net.au/the-meaning-of-ta-moko-maori-tatt...
www.teara.govt.nz/en/ta-moko-maori-tattooing/page-1