Rare Maori Chief's Cloak, New Zealand
kahu kiwi
Kiwi (Apteryx australis) feathers, flax fiber
35 by 42in (89 by 106cm)

Provenance
Christie's, New York, May 1994, Lot 24
Private Collection, Kahala, Oahu

'Early explorers, including Cook and his scientists, mention 'feather cloaks' and 'cloaks decorated with feathers', but the feathers on those that were collected and survive in museum collections are few and often placed only at the lower corners of the garment. A few have feathers attached at widely spaced intervals across the surface.
Cloaks with the outer surface covered with feathers appeared and developed very quickly from about the middle of the nineteenth century, some of them were covered entirely with kiwi feathers (known as kahu kiwi and considered to be the most prestigious), others with various feathers forming colour patterns.' (Starzecka, Dorota, Roger Neich, Mick Pendergrast, The Maori Collections of the British Museum, The British Museum Library, London, 2010, p. 124)

Good stable condition with slight feather loss throughout. Professionally mounted and framed.