Skip Navigation

Lintel (Pare or Kōrupe)

Arts of the Pacific Islands

About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.

This lintel, called a pare or kōrupe, symbolizes the threshold between realms and exemplifies the skill of Māori tohunga whakairo (master carvers). It is thus considered a taonga (treasure).

The central figure likely depicts a female ancestor known to the carver and his iwi, a group of Māori descended from a common ancestor. Like many figures in Māori carvings, her eyes are inlaid with pāua (abalone) shell. She is situated between two manaia, hybrid beings that navigate human and spirit realms.

Hung over entryways, pare represent the boundary between external and internal worlds, which people cross when walking underneath. This pare likely topped the entrance to a wharepuni (sleeping house) or pātaka (raised storehouse). It would have been one of many intricately carved architectural elements on marae (communal gathering spaces), each of which conveys aspects of iwi identity.

Recent research by Māori scholar Deidre Brown has determined that this pare was purchased by English missionary Thomas Kendall and sent to England in 1823, making it one of the earliest whakairo rākau (wood carvings) shipped to Europe from Aotearoa New Zealand. Provenance research with Māori kaumātua (elders) and community members is ongoing and will hopefully shed more light on the history of this pare, its carver, and the iwi from which it came.
MEDIUM Wood, pāua shell
DATES late 18th–early 19th century
DIMENSIONS 13 1/2 x 35 1/8 x 1 7/8 in. (34.3 x 89.2 x 4.8 cm)  (show scale)
INSCRIPTIONS "IX" carved in the back of the head of the central figure; "61.126" occurs twice, once in ink and once in pencil.
ACCESSION NUMBER 61.126
CREDIT LINE Frank L. Babbott Fund and Carll H. de Silver Fund
PROVENANCE Prior to 1823, provenance not yet documented; before June 1823, acquired in New Zealand by Thomas Kendall for the Church Missionary Society, London, England; between 1823 and 1961, provenance not yet documented; before 1939, possibly acquired by Harry Geoffrey Beasley of Kent, England; 1939, possibly inherited from Harry Geoffrey Beasley by Irene Marguerite Beasley of Kent; by October 11, 1961, acquired by Judith A. Small Galleries, New York, NY; October 11, 1961, purchased from Judith A. Small Galleries by the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Māori wood carving of a pare (door lintel) or a kōrupe (window lintel), likely for a wharepuni (sleeping house) or pātaka (raised storehouse). The central female figure has clasped hands, short legs and a face ornamented with pāua (abalone) shell eyes. To either side the wood is carved into nonsymmetrical small swirls and two larger manaia figures. The bottom section appears to depict a platform where there is little openwork. The work is carved on the back as well, and there is partial finished detail on the back. There is no presence of a surface coating.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Maori. Lintel (Pare or Kōrupe), late 18th–early 19th century. Wood, pāua shell, 13 1/2 x 35 1/8 x 1 7/8 in. (34.3 x 89.2 x 4.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund and Carll H. de Silver Fund, 61.126. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 61.126_PS9.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 61.126_PS9.jpg., 2019
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.