Inanga Pounamu Hei Tiki with Prestigious Color and Provenance

A good pre-European inanga pounamu hei tiki of elegant proportions and prestigious colour, chin to left shoulder, hands to thighs, hour-glass suspension hole to top, semi-concealed at the front, evidence of another hole beside. The reverse inscribed with presumably a museum collection number and previous owner 'E146.283 Mrs Haigh, Amberley'. Recorded as found at Amberley, Christchurch in the 1920s while ploughing farmland, height 3.54 in. Provenance: Private Estate Collection. Note: the inanga variety of pounamu (nephrite) is prized for its white, grey-green and blue tones, sourced particularly by Poutini Ngai Tahu and named after the juvenile native minnow or whitebait.