Maori lintel expected

Press, 15 August 1978, Page 6

Maori lintel expected

A Maori carving, bought by the Canterbury Museum for $Bl,OOO at an auction in London earlier this year, is expected to arrive in Christchurch at the end of this week. The museum’s director (Dr R. S. Duff) said yesterday that before the lintel could go on permanent display in the Canterbury Museum it would probably be necessary to consult the Maori elders of east Bay of

Plenty’ as to how it should be received. Dr Duff bought the lintel in trust for three East Coast and Bay' of Plenty Maori tribes who sponsored his trip to London. He said that the lintel would be escorted to the Tekaha area, probably by himself, and it was likely that a solemn tapu lifting ceremony would be performed on the carving at the tribes’ maraes.

The lintel was made in the early 1800 s in eastern Bay’ of Plenty, and it disappeared later in the century.

Eight years ago it turned up st a bring-and-buy sale in Devon: later it was acquired by’ a Bolivian tin magnate, Mr Jorge Ortiz. He sold it to recoup part of the S2M he paid out in ransom money for his daughter who was kidnapped in Switzerland.