MAIA NUKU: I thought it might be nice to start with a couple of whakatauki or Māori proverbs that mention pounamu, which is the hard greenstone or nephrite jade which this Māori hei tiki is made from.

One quite famous proverb is this one: Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu. And that means: “Though it is small, it is pounamu,” or a treasure.

Tēnā koutou katoa, I am Maia Nuku and I am the curator for Oceania here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

KATERINA TEAIWA (NARRATOR): This hei tiki would have been worn as a pendant necklace. On the back, at the top, there’s a worn-away area where a flax cord would have once passed through.

MAIA NUKU: It’s something that would’ve been worn and kept as an heirloom and passed down.

KATERINA TEAIWA: Look closely at the qualities of this stone. It’s a dark, intense green, like the depths of the riverbed.

MAIA NUKU: There’s a whole vocabulary that describes the different kinds of greenstone.

KATERINA TEAIWA: Most Māori art is made from fragile, ephemeral materials—like wood, feathers, and fiber.

MAIA NUKU: So any material that has a sense of durability and permanence is valued, revered even.

There’s something very embryonic about the sculpture. So, it’s really encapsulating that extraordinary moment where new life is birthed into being.

It’s all of that energy encapsulated into this beautiful, dense stone that you can hold in your hand or wear around your neck.