Standing male figure "moai tangata"
Carl A. Pöhl, Hamburg, Germany (1883)
presumably: Walter Bondy (1880-1940), Berlin, Germany
Ludwig Leicher, Berlin, Germany
Description
heavy wood, blackish brown patina, strictly frontal orientation with arms extended down the sides, large head with prominent eye zone (with obsidian inlay and framing bone rings), accentuation of collar bone and wrist joints, specific formed back of the head and bump at the neck, inscribed: “Pöhl. 83” (unreadable), slightly dam., rep. (left foot and shanks), narrow piece of wood reinserted along the spine, base cut on the underside;
among Rapa Nui wood sculptures the naturalistic male figures known as “moai tangata” bear the closest formal resemblance to the island’s familiar stone figures. Little is known about the precise significance and use of these remarkable images. Like other Rapa Nui wood figures, they likely portray ancestors or other powerful supernatural beings, and they may have been venerated as part of family or individual religious observances. Possibly representing family ancestors, some “moai tangata” although their features are conventionalized, may have been intended to portray specific individuals. Smaller examples with suspension holes may have been worn around the neck as a pendant during harvest festivals and other rituals or hung from the rafters of a house when not in use.
The most well-known type of wooden image from Easter Island is called “maoai kavakava”, it is marked by a skeleton-like structure of the body. Female images are called “moai papa”, they represent the earth mother.
The figure was possibly owned by the Berlin artist and art dealer Walter Bondy, who had privately specialized in the collection of African and oceanic art. On two old photographs of his private apartment, a “moai tangata” figure can be seen, which could be identical with the present one. Bondy would establish a enduring connection between Carl Pöhl and Ludwig Leicher.