File:Post, newel (AM 1998.81.3-4).jpg

English: Post, newel wood dark brown black, intricately hand-carved figure on top of fluted cylindrical pedestal with square base and turned circular discs, figure is a maori woman with crown, ear pendant, chin moko, back has carved scrolls, fern leaves project upwards from base, base has some crown patterns This simply carved figure of a Maori woman is suggestive of Grecian caryatides – a sculpted female figure used as an architectural support or column. Instead of Grecian gowns, her garment resembles a cloak. She wears an ear pendant and her chin is graced with a moko. Scrolls and fern leaves grow up from the base and entwine her body. The figure stands on a pedestal base which is a version of carved enrichment derived from what appears to be the echinus and astragal pattern (with an additional row of inverted astragal) or what is commonly called ‘egg and tongue’ ornament. This motif is repeated to create a capital akin to a crown on her head. It has been recorded that this carved newel post (the post from the top or bottom of a flight of stairs) was taken from the stairway of the Globe Insurance Co that was once in Shortland Street, Auckland. The newel post was placed on a different column before it came to the museum.