Male figure "moai kavakava"

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Description

wood, middle brown patina, charcteristic emaciated body with projecting skeletonized ribcage and narrow head with skull-like features, eyes with inlay of obsidian and bone, overlong ears with circular earplugs, hairdo in spiral scrolls above the forehead, accentuated backbone, slightly dam., cracks (forehead, neck), block-like base;
the great cultural heroe “Tuu-ko-ihu” created the first “moai kavakava” as the representation of deified ancestral beings or “akuaku”. The “akuaku” are givers of knowledge and disseminators of information and expertise, and represent the direct link with the first ancestors. “Moai kavakava” were normally wrapped in tapa cloth and stored in the rafters of the house. On ceremonial occasions they were brought out and worn suspended from the neck of the owner/dancer. The “moai kavakava” females counterpart is “moai papa”, depicting the earth mother. The “toromiro” tree which supplied the wood for sacred carvings is extinct nowadays.

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Comparing literature

Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. II, Köln 1995, p. 581 f. Hooper, Steven, Pacific Encounters, Art Divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860, Norwich 2006, p. 145, ill. 91

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