Post #357221 by bigbrotiki on Fri, Jan 25, 2008 8:57 PM

On 2008-01-25 15:59, Psycho Tiki D wrote:

Three green Maori mugs marked with silver and blue labels "Fred Roberts Company, San Francisco" "Made In Japan"

I wasn't familiar with those! Man, they are much nicer than that common R1 Orchids mug I have:

I never really liked that bugger, and now I know why: I bet it is a knock off from the Fred Roberts design. There the tongue and the mouth are sculpted much better and actually allow one to see the Maori carving it was based on!

I like these so much, I felt inspired to search for it in my Oceanic Arts library, but had no luck. The wide, over-extended tongue reminded me of the Maori spear....

...where the tip ends up in a tongue that fills end extends beyond the mouth:

But then the fact that the mug has a thin neck could mean the design was taken from a god stick like this one:

I have several books on Maori art, but have found no exact match so far. Maybe someone else will have more luck...Paipo?