Figure masculine "moai kavakava" ·  Île de Pâques · ID: 3047455

Description

wood, pigment, base

Like the meaning of the enigmatic giant stone statues, the “moai”, the wooden figures of the ancient Rapa Nui civilisation are still mysterious today. There has been much speculation about their meaning and use. A connection with emaciation and famine seems obvious. The embodiment of a “bird-man” deity, who was an important figure in Easter Island mythology, was also considered.

Most likely, however, these emaciated male figures represent the spirits of the dead, as the people of Rapa Nui imagined them, when they reappeared to the living as ghosts.

Through records kept by a frigate captain in 1882, it is known that the figures were worn hanging around the neck. It is reported that during important harvesting, egg gathering, and fishing times, the population gathered together and leading males brought with them the wood images showing them suspended from their bodies.

L’objet Figure masculine “moai kavakava” avec l’ID d’objet 3047455 a fait partie de la dernière vente aux enchères 96e Vente aux enchères dans 24 avril 2021 le Zemanek-Münster Hôtel des ventes. L’objet portant le numéro de lot 56 a atteint un prix de vente de 9 000 €.

Vous trouverez d’autres Figures et autres types d’objets populaires sur nos pages thématiques associées. Notre page sur le thème Art océanien pourrait également vous intéresser.

Littérature comparée

Kaeppler, Adrienne, Polynesia, Honolulu 2010, p. 362 Wardwell, Allen, Island Ancestors, Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection, Fort Worth 1994, p. 256 f.