Material Culture
Material Culture
Webb’s Material Culture Department offers exceptional expertise in the curation and presentation of significant objects that embody history, artistry, and cultural heritage. Our live and online auctions feature indigenous taonga, important cultural artefacts, and select single-owner collections of remarkable provenance.
With a dedicated client base and growing demand for unique and meaningful pieces, we have consistently achieved outstanding results. It is a privilege to act as temporary kaitiakitanga of these treasures, honouring their stories while connecting them with discerning collectors worldwide. Through our commitment to excellence, we continue to bring these important catalogues to life and deliver phenomenal outcomes.
Material Culture
Live Auction | Monday 11 May, 6.30pm
—Auction Concluded
The Material Culture Live Auction catalogue is now available online and will be on view at our Mount Eden Gallery starting tomorrow, Saturday 2 May.
This carefully assembled selection centres on the material traditions of Aotearoa and the wider Pacific, led by a rare taxidermy huia and an 18th century pounamu mere of exceptional presence. These items are joined by a carved waka hoe with kōwhaiwhai design and a finely worked paddle from the Austral Islands—alongside works from China, Persia, and West Africa—a selection that reflects material as a bearer of knowledge, status, and cultural memory.
We invite you to encounter these works firsthand, and to consider the layered histories and relationships they continue to preserve.
Leah Morris
Head of Decorative Arts
The Material Culture Department
A celebration of indigenous art, Webb’s Material Culture Auctions offer quality examples of carvings, textiles, personal adornments, tools, ceramics, metal work and others of similar rich cultural heritage. These sales bring together outstanding selections of artforms that show the mastery and resourcefulness of artists that imbue multi-generational knowledge.
After the sale of the world record breaking huia feather which achieved 15 times over its estimated price, the team here regularly looks forward to presenting another exceptional offering to a market eager to acquire at all levels.
Y-Registrations
In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the importance of taonga tūturu in Aotearoa, and this has led to a number of initiatives aimed at protecting and preserving these taonga for future generations.
At Webb’s we take seriously our role as temporary custodians of a variety of taonga, and we follow a number of formal and informal processes to ensure we treat and document these pieces with the utmost care and respect. This involves closely following New Zealand law, particularly the Protected Objects Act 1975 and ensuring that every item that we consign follows a strict set of rules of registration, ownership, and provenance.
If a vendor is looking to sell a Y registered item through Webb’s (or anywhere else) they must be the recognised legal owner and be a registered trader under the Protected Objects Act. Similarly, if a buyer wishes to acquire a Y registered object they will need to be a registered collector. Crucially, Y registered Taonga Tūturu cannot be sent or taken overseas without the express permission of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. Read more about Y-Registrations.
Leah Morris
Head of Decorative Arts
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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.Before coming to Webb’s in 2021, Leah’s most recent tenure was working as a Collection Technician at the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira for Human History in which she researched and catalogued the Social History, Applied Arts and Design, and World collections.
This experience shines through in her role as Head of Department where she expertly leads specialist Decorative Arts sales with utmost care and consideration for the full client experience.
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.
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