Fork with the face of an ancestor

• Ethnic affiliation: Maori
• Place of creation: New Zealand
• Geographical localization of place of creation: New Zealand
• Material: wood, paua shells
• Technique: handicraft production, chiseling, engraving
• Size: length – 37 cm, width – 8 cm
• Date of creation: mid-2000s
• Collector: private individual Pale Sofiya Evgenyevna (1976-2024)
• Usage period: mid-2000s
• Usage: household interior item
• Condition: good
• Keywords: New Zealand, peoples of Australia and Oceania, Polynesians, Maori

A Maori craft object — of the indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand, who arrived from central Polynesia in the 13th century AD. The face of an ancestor or god is depicted as a fierce warrior with a protruding tongue in the menacing war dance haka. It was believed that the scarier the face of the ancestor or god, the more evil it would ward off.