Door Lintel (Pare) (1800s): Art, History and Details

Door Lintel (Pare) (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In the past, a lintel (pare) was placed over the entryway of Māori meeting houses, which are sacred structures. Thus, the visitor passed under the lintel’s central deity figure, often a female but here of unclear sex. To either side is an animal-like guardian spirit (manaia) shown in profile and facing outward; look for the feet grasping the lintel’s borders.

Object facts

• Title: Door Lintel (Pare)
• Date: 1800s
• Culture: Pacific Islands, Polynesia, New Zealand, Māori people
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: wood, pigment
• Dimensions: Overall: 35 x 75.6 cm (13 3/4 x 29 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Oceanic Art
• Department: Oceania
• Accession number: 1962.350

A detail from the museum

Two guardian spirits (manaia) flank the central deity figure of this lintel (pare).

Collection credit

The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.