Oceania
Maori peoples, Taranaki area, North Island, New Zealand
Weaving Peg, Turu-Turu
Eighteenth century
Wood, haliotis shell
H. 17 3/4 in. (45.1 cm)
Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection

To make flax cloth, the Maori suspended a thread between two wooden pegs for a process called twining, or finger weaving, in which pairs of weft threads are twisted around hanging warp threads. As with all arts in Polynesia, weaving was a ritual, and one of the pegs was designated sacred. Because of its elaborate decoration, this one was surely a sacred object. The intertwining of figures, here in the form of three arranged vertically on each side of the peg, is a hallmark of Maori style. An unusual feature is that the peg remains unfinished: the bottom figures have been blocked out, but the intricate surface detail was never completed.