Male Figure
| Culture | Santa Cruz Islands |
|---|---|
| Title | Male Figure (Munga Dukna) |
| Date | Late 19th–early 20th century |
| Medium | Wood, fiber, shell, turtle shell, and and turmeric |
| Dimensions | Object: 13 1/2 × 5 9/16 × 6 1/8 in. (34.3 × 14.1 × 15.6 cm) Overall: 13 1/2 × 5 9/16 × 6 1/8 in. (34.3 × 14.1 × 15.6 cm) |
| Credit Line | Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 2010.14 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
A carved figure standing on a base with short legs, a long torso, its arms at its sides, and its face tilted slightly upward. The figure has a large, flat ring through the nose's septum, and has large ears with earrings.
Kept on an altar in a man’s own home or in the men’s house (a building that served as the social and spiritual center of a community), a munga dukna, “image of a deity,” was treated with all of the respect and honor accorded a distinguished guest in a household. The power to bring its owner good fortune or disaster, health or illness, wealth or poverty, was believed to be within the capacity of the deity honored by this figure. Although Santa Cruz figures once numbered in the hundreds, today only about fifty-five figural sculptures from Santa Cruz Islands, the southeastern island group in the Solomon Islands, are known. The Eskenazi Museum of Art’s figure is the only freestanding munga dukna in a public collection in the continental United States.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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Cite this page
"Male Figure | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2010.14