A rare form of bailer used only in small canoes on inland or coastal waters. Type II bailers (type I bailers are used on the great war canoes) are generally rustic and often undecorated. The bailer presented here is of exceptional quality: the decor is very well carved and the bailer as a whole is extremely well balanced. The outer upper edge is decorated with a deeply carved stylized, floral decor. The underside of the bowl is marked with six horizontal, concave, adzed bands. At the end of the looped handle there is a powerfully ferocious tattooed head with it's mouth open showing two large fangs at either side of the tongue. "This bailer is the work of the master-carver RAHARUHI RUKUPO (or one of his students) from the Gisbourne area and is carved in the style of the RONGO-WHAKAATA tribe circa 1850-60." (this attribution kindly supplied by David R. Simmons).

Maori people, Gisbourne area, East coast, North Island, New Zealand, Polynesia.

Wood (KAURI?) with a dark brown glossy patina. Fine patina of wear and age. One native and two European repairs to the bowl.

51 x 17,5 x 10 cm. TE HURINGA period (period of the turning), 1800 A.D. to present.

Exhibitions & publications: OCEANIE, ART DE L'OCEANIE. Galerie Meyer, Paris. 14 June to 1 October 1988. N° 16, p. 23 of the catalogue OCEANIE. Meyer, Anthony JP.: OCEANIC ART/OZEANISCHES KUNST/ART OCEANIEN. Könemann, Köln. 1995, fig. 649, p. 561. Ref.: Best, Elden: THE MAORI CANOE. Bulletin 7. Dominion Museum, Auckland. 1925. Fig. 127.