KAHA
In stock
Strength - " A warrior's true strength is on the inside"
A beautiful pendant in a traditional māori motivate club design, carved for us by Rueben Tipene. This is an exceptional piece, carved from a very dark piece of South Westland Kawakawa pounamu. The stone is a deep midnight green colour and is a very fine quality jade. We have backlit the bottom edge of the blade to give you a glimpse of the structure of the jade - it is a striated green that comes alive when hit by light.
The front face is etched with a double koru design - a wonderfully weighty piece that feels great to wear and hold.
Take a look at the video to see the shape of the pendant and the wonderful colour of the stone.
The history of the KOTIATE - as recorded in an extract from the Museum of New Zealand 'Te Papa' website: https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/93970
The kotiate was a prized weapon and also favoured by chiefs when speech-making. It is a curiously shaped weapon, and noted for the carved notches on either side of the blade. The notches were used in a ripping action. The word kotiate literally means 'to divide, split in two'. Kotiate were usually about thirty-two centimetres in length and made from whale bone, although some were fashioned from hardwood such as akeake and rautangi. The carving on whale bone examples was usually confined to the butt of the handle. Like other mere and patu (hand clubs), kotiate had wrist thongs to wrap around the warrior's hand to ensure the weapon was not lost during battle.
Artist: Rueben Tipene
Material: New Zealand Jade, Pounamu
Cord Colour: Tan cord with Jade toggle
Cord Length: Fixed: 56cm diameter
Size: 109mm (4.2") long, 45mm (1.7") wide
