Images

Instruments for traditional Pacific Island tattoos: hāhau (tapping stick) made of ulei wood, moli (tattoo tool) made of wood and bone, and apu paʻu (ink bowl), made of jade. Date unknown.

The rooms of Minoan frescoes, Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. At the right end is the fresco of the Prince with the Lilies.

A portrait by New Zealand artist Gottfried Lindauer (1839 - 1926 CE) of Te Rangi Pikinga. She belonged to the Ngāti Apa people of Whanganui (New Zealand) and was captured by Te Rangihaeata at Turakina c. 1819 CE. It is believed she was born...

A half-length portrait of a Maori woman painted by the New Zealand artist Gottfried Lindauer (1839 to 1926 CE). Hinepare is wearing a hei-tiki around her neck, pounamu (greenstone) earring and shark tooth earring, and two huia feathers in...

The Marquesan culture is said to have evolved the most elaborate tattoo art. This photograph was taken in 1880 CE and shows the traditional tattoo designs of the Polynesian region - specifically, that of the Marquesas Islands.

A Samoan tattooist using the traditional tools to place a tatau (tattoo) on a man's back. The methods and tools were also used in New Zealand by the Maori. This photograph was taken c. 1895 CE by Thomas Andrew (1855-1939 CE).

Map showing the migration of Polynesians who it is thought were originally from Taiwan. They settled in the Polynesian Triangle that encompasses New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island as its corners. The Polynesians left Taiwan somewhere between...

Photograph of Tawhiao, second King of the Māori (1822 - 1894 CE). The photo was taken in the 1880s CE by an unknown photographer.

The iconic Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, New Zealand opened in 1988 CE and houses the national art collection among its taonga (or treasures).

Portrait by the artist Louis John Steele (1842 - 1918 CE) of a young Māori woman with chin moko (tattoo) 1891 CE. From the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.