Heaphy, Charles, 1820-1881: "A native woman making the kaitaka"

Pencil and watercolour drawing shows a young Māori woman seated on the ground in front of a decorated whare, with carved tekoteko figure and painted maihi (barge boards). The young woman is engaged in weaving a cloak which is suspended on a rope between two poles. The upper edge of the woven piece has a taniko border. A kete lies on the ground beside the girl who wears European dress beneath her own kakahu. A tree fern and cabbage tree are shown in the left background.

A kaitaka is a category of fine kakahu (woven Maori cloak). The gallery catalogue says: "The manufacture of kakahu is an intensive process requiring consummate skill. After the muka fibre has been prepared a set of turuturu (weaving pegs) are secured in the ground. Vertical warps are suspended between the pegs and the wefts are then twisted across them from left to right, using a finger-weaving technique known as whatu. Kaitaka are typically large and are manufactured using finely woven unbeaten muka fibre which produces a characteristic golden hue and silky sheen ... the lower and side borders of the kaitaka are often finished with attractive bands of taniko. ... This image by Heaphy is unusual if accurate, since the kaitaka has been commenced with the taniko border usually worn at the bottom of the kakahu" [Text explains that kaitaka differ from other kakahu construction in being woven the same way up as the finished cloak is to be worn].

Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - Signed and dated; Recto - beneath image - [Title]

A similar watercolour exists in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Library in London and is entitled "Half-caste girl making a kaitaka". See further notes about the work in John Leech Gallery catalogue 2006, page 15.

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Pencil and watercolour, 270 x 372 mm

Provenance: Previouly acquired in 2005 with four other works by Heaphy and Francis Dillon Bell from a Paris dealer, who acquired them in the late 1990s from a country sale in France. The material may originally have been owned by Francis Dillon Bell. Other works from the collection include Heaphy's "Wikitoria a halfcast of Massacre Bay, 1848", purchased by the Library in 2009 (Reference number C-012-007); Charles Heaphy's Nelson, 1845 (C-173-001); and Bell's view of his brother's grave at Nelson (C-173-002) purchased 2014.

Processing information: Description updated 30 August 2023 following information provided by a staff member.