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Paipo
Member
Aotearoa / NZ
Joined: Jun 22, 2006
Posts: 1886
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Royal Doulton made one about 70 or 80 years ago - it just sold here for $65,000.
Best photo I could find online, but I saw a better one in a magazine - the face is fully tattooed and he has ear pendants, even the tousled hair, very much like the drawing above. Yes, it's a 'character jug' rather than a tiki mug, but essentially it is exactly the same thing - a vessel in the form of a tattoed chief's head.
The point is, it's hardly a creative concept anyone could claim credit for or copyright - Gecko has also made one, Porcelanas Pavon have made them. There are probably others waiting to be discovered. Objects based on tattooed Maori chiefs are a dime-a-dozen over here. It's hardly an original idea and Ben has been carving these guys for many years. His are actually conceptually different in that most of them are based on moko mokai(preserved tattooed heads) rather than a life study such as the example above and your drawing - hence the lack of neck and shoulders. They are probably what he is best known for, so it's natural that Tiki Farm would use them when designing their mugs.
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