Korowai (cloak)

This korowai (tasselled cloak) was purchased at a public auction in 1989 for $700. It was formerly owned by a Wellington-based collector named A Miet.

According to academic and expert weaver Maureen Lander, this is an example of the ‘flowering of colourful korowai’ in the early 1800s, when ‘weavers experimented with wool and needlework techniques to decorate their garments’. Its vibrant, decorative crosses and lines of coloured wool are twined into the aho (weft rows) at intervals across the cloak.


Dramatic patterning
As Lander describes the cloak, ‘the kaupapa (foundation) is literally pulsating with numerous brightly coloured wool patterns’. Vivid alternating blocks of coloured wool loops frame the side and bottom borders, drawing the eye to the edges of the korowai. Heavy black wool and muka hukahuka (tassels), and delicate peacock and male pheasant feathers, are randomly dispersed over the cloak, adding a further layer of texture.


Construction
The kaupapa is muka (New Zealand flax fibre), weft-twined in whatu aho rua technique (two-pair weft twining). The whenu (warp threads) measure five per centimetre, with 12 mm spacing between each aho row. The bottom fringe is a thrum commencement.

The aho poka (shaping rows) are simple elliptical inserts, three rows 180 mm from the top, and one row 25mm up from the bottom.

The proper left side border has eighteen dyed brown whenu contrasting against the wool loops. The other side border has a brightly coloured braided wool plait in yellow, orange and black wool as a whenu tapiri (finished edge warp). The neck edge has a double whenu spiral finish.

Feathers
The iridescent blue feathers are from the neck of the peacock, while the iridescent green, black and white feathers are from its upper back. The brown and light brown feathers are from the belly or flank of the pheasant, and the almond-shaped feathers of brown, black and white are from its back. The white and brown feathers are also from the back of the pheasant.

This text is based on an excerpt from Whatu Kakahu|Maori Cloaks (second edition), edited by Awhina Tamarapa, © Te Papa Press 2019.