Lot 168: Tuhoto Ariki, a Maori high priest

Gottfried Lindauer (1839-1926)
Tuhoto Ariki, a Maori high priest
oil on canvas laid down on card
unframed
20 x 15 1/8 in. (50.7 x 38.5 cm.)

One of the last sacred priests of Maoridom, the Arawa 'tohunga-makutu' Tuhoto Ariki lived to an hundred years old. He settled at Wairoa village on the shores of Lake Tarawera in his old age. He was buried alive by the eruption of Tarawera mountain in 1886 and, after being recovered from his buried whare after four and a half days, he died a few days later.