Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in the context of "Celaeno"

Migration to New Zealand began only very recently in human history, with Polynesian settlement in New Zealand, previously uninhabited, about 1250 CE to 1280 CE. European migration provided a major influx, especially following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Subsequent immigrants have come chiefly from the British Isles, but also from continental Europe, the Pacific, the Americas and Asia.

Buckskin is the soft, pliable, porous preserved hide of an animal – usually deer – tanned in the same way as deerskin clothing worn by Native Americans. Some leather sold as "buckskin" may now be sheepskin tanned with modern chromate tanning chemicals and dyed to resemble real buckskin.

Traditionally, Native Americans would scrape away the excessive fat clinging to the hide, and this would be followed by working the raw hide with the brain tissue of an animal. Afterwards, the raw hide is made to envelope a fire that emits wood smoke, and where the smoke is mostly trapped inside the raw hide for many hours. The combined application of brain tissue and smoke produces soft and pliable buckskin leather, with a dark honey color. This treatment differs from the traditional tanning methods used in other societies and cultures and is thought to be preferable to vegetable tanning methods where tannins are exclusively used. The finished product resembles chamois leather, but is stronger. Smoking gives to the leather its durability, and although buckskin may become slightly stiff when it dries after being wet, it quickly restores itself to its former soft-state by rubbing it with the hands. The application of wood smoke also deters insects from devouring it. Unsmoked buckskin is lighter, even white, in color.