Webb’s is proud to present its last Material Culture auction for 2025 — a compelling exploration of global artistic and ancestral heritage.
Material Culture gives form to human experience. These objects are the physical traces of belief systems, social structures, spiritual life, and artistic vision. They carry the stories of makers and communities, of cultural continuity and change.
This catalogue brings together exceptional pieces from across Aotearoa, Africa, Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and the Americas — each object carefully selected for its provenance, form, and historical resonance. From an 18th-century Māori mere pounamu, its silvery veins marking both time and fire, to a finely carved 19th-century pātītī whose European steel blade and Māori carved haft speak to adaptation and encounter, these works embody the complex dialogues between materials, cultures, and histories.
Across generations, Indigenous makers have transformed natural materials into works of profound meaning: bark into cloth, stone into tools, bone into adornment, and pigment into pattern. These acts of transformation are not simply artistic — they are cultural, political, and deeply ecological. In this spirit, a late 20th-century Phantom Shield by John Wahgi of Papua New Guinea stands as a striking emblem of resilience and reinvention — a traditional war shield reimagined through the iconography of a modern superhero, merging ancestral protection with global imagery.
Lot 25. A Phantom Shield by John Wahgi, Papua New Guinea. EST. $9,000—$12,000
New Guinea Highlands: Art from the Jolika Collection (2017).
National Gallery of Victoria, Papua new Guinea, Tobi Wanik, Wahgi Valley
Lot 21. A Canopic Jar, Late Kingdom, Egypt.
EST. $8,000—$12,000
Lot 47. An Athenian Silver Tetradrachm, c. 454-404 BCE. EST. $2,000—$2,400
Lot 32. A Rangda Mask with Articulated Jaw, Bali.
EST. $200—$400
For many Indigenous cultures, art and object-making are inseparable from the environment. Knowledge is passed down not only through words, but through making — guided by the seasons, the tides, the movement of animals, the flowering of plants. The land is not just a resource, but a relative. Every fibre woven, every surface carved, carries with it a lineage of observation, adaptation, and care.
This auction reflects the creative resilience of communities who have held fast to tradition while navigating the pressures of colonisation, climate change, and globalisation. Despite attempts to suppress language, ceremony, and customary practice, the makers behind these works have continued to carve, weave, sculpt, and stitch — ensuring the survival of ancestral knowledge through the objects they create. The Canopic Jar of Egypt’s 26th Dynasty, its jackal-headed lid guarding the spirit through millennia, reminds us how devotion and craftsmanship transcend time and empire alike.
Some works are ceremonial, others utilitarian. Some are sacred, others worn or traded. But all of them speak to a worldview in which humanity is not separate from nature, but part of an interconnected whole. They remind us that culture is not static — it evolves, adapts, and endures.
As always, Webb’s recognises the privilege of being a temporary kaitiaki of these taonga and cultural treasures. We acknowledge the deep responsibilities that come with handling these pieces, and we offer our gratitude to the makers, communities, and custodians past and present who have shaped their journeys — from the jade sheen of pounamu to the luminous alabaster of ancient Egypt, from the painted shields of the Wahgi Valley to the carved wood and steel of Aotearoa’s storied tools.
Ka mua, ka mur
Walking backwards into the future.
Leah Morris
Head of Decorative Arts
Leah studied at the University of Auckland earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and Ancient History in 2015. In 2017 she graduated with an Honours in Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage.
Leah has a special interest in Material Culture and has set the benchmark for curating record-breaking sales. She is particularly interested in West African art, taonga, and indigenous art, as well as New Zealand studio pottery and glass.
Material Culture | Wednesday 12 November
Auction Details
Live Auction—Wednesday 12 November,
From 6.30pm
Viewing
Thursday 6 November, 10am—5pm
Friday 7 November, 10am—5pm
Saturday 8 November, 10am—4pm
Monday 10 November, 10am—5pm
Tuesday 11 November, 10am—5pm
Wednesday 12 November, 10am—5pm
Location
Webb’s, 33a Normanby Road, Mount Eden
Contact
Leah Morris
Head of Decorative Arts
leah@webbs.co.nz
+64 22 574 5699