Male Figure
| Culture | Rapa Nui (Easter Island) |
|---|---|
| Title | Male Figure (Moai Kavakava) |
| Date | Early to mid-19th century |
| Medium | Wood, obsidian, and and bone |
| Dimensions | Object: 15 1/8 × 3 1/4 × 3 5/8 in. (38.4 × 8.3 × 9.2 cm) Overall (includes mount): 15 7/8 × 3 1/4 × 3 5/8 in. (40.3 × 8.3 × 9.2 cm) |
| Credit Line | Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 80.5.1 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
A carved male figure standing with its arms at its sides and a prominent ribcage. The figure has inlaid bone in its eyes, and has elongated earlobes.
Though the monumental stone figures of Rapa Nui have for years captured the public imagination, another type of sculpture carved of wood, the moai kavakava, “statue with ribs,” also leaves a remarkable impression. Always male, moai kavakava have prominent rib cages, clavicles, and spines, and sunken eye sockets that evoke skeletons, leading most scholars to believe that moai kavakava represent ancestors or their spirits; but their beards, glinting bone-and-obsidian eyes, and elongated fleshy earlobes place the images within the realm of the living.
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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"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=80.5.1