Scrimshaw bullock horns
Maker
Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky
Production date
1864
Description
Prussian mercenary Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky attained infamy as a combatant in the New Zealand Wars and was an amateur painter, musician and writer. Prior to arriving in New Zealand in 1862, von Tempsky led an itinerant life in locations across the globe. In 1863, von Tempsky joined the Forest Rangers, irregular soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand fighting with Maaori in the northern Waikato. While celebrated in the settler community, von Tempsky gained a reputation for brutality and struggled to accept the discipline of military superiors. Von Tempsky was killed in 1868 during an attack on Tiitokowaru's paa in southern Taranaki, Te Ngutu o Te Manu.
A black pigment has been used to decorate this signed and dated pair of bullock (castrated bovine) horns with scrimshaw, scrollwork on bone or ivory. The horns, with wooden plugs in the bases, would have been used for storing gunpowder. On the bottom of the left horn is a scene from the Book of Genesis in which Hagar gives water to her son Ishmael in the desert. An arrangement of fruit, nuts and flowers is on the middle of the horn. At the top is an image of Ngaapuhi rangatira Hoone Heke and wife, Haereata. The right horn has a nude woman seated in a giant clamshell (this has been traced from an engraving by R. S. Lauder, R.S.A., originally published in the Illustrated London News) and a Scottish soldier wearing a traditional kilt, also likely inspired by an Illustrated London News image.
The Museum purchased the horns in 1976 from a Mr Sayers of Cambridge, who reportedly bought them from a shop in Christchurch. Other horns in the Museum's collection are unsigned, yet have similar scrimshaw decorations suggesting von Tempsky's hand.
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Object detail
base: 83mm
.2 length: 374mm
base: 80mm
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