Pendant

A hei tiki (human form pendant) made of pounamu (greenstone). The human figure has an oversized head tilted to one side, arms akimbo, legs flexed, and feet together. Triangular pointed head in Taranaki style. Large eyes, nose, and mouth are marked. Shoulders well modelled with line marking, breast, and a line under this. "Ankle" knobs at the base of the tiki. Head with chin on left shoulder, slightly narrower (5.5 cm) than the body (6.6 cm). Head length 5.8 is in proportion to the body (7.1 cm), slightly smaller.

Hei tiki are carved neck pendants of uncertain origin. Some believe that they represent Tiki, the first man; others believe that the pendants could represent Hineteiwaiwa, the ancestral goddess of fertility. Hei tiki are often heirlooms of prestige. Most were made of greenstone, though some were made of whale bone. Their value derives from the hours of labor required to carve the hard material and from association with the ancestors through whose hands the carvings have passed, from generation to generation.