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Return to African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva
In Baga communities such riveting sculptural elements were positioned at the summit of a masquerade ensemble. In that context, they drew the viewer's gaze upward and evoked a mystical serpent known as Nininanka. Emblems of a clan's identity and power, they were integrated into performances that enlivened the community and marked the initiation of young girls and boys into adulthood. This example is impressive for its massive scale and for the bold graphic definition of its surface. It was among six works—including two in the Metropolitan Museum's collection—that Henri Kamer collected in the district of Boke. See one of the Serpent Headdresses from the Met's collection.
This figure from southwestern Sudan was carved by a Bongo or a Belanda Mbegumba sculptor to commemorate a hunter-warrior at his burial site. It is part of a corpus of sixteen such works collected in Sudan by Christian Duponcheel in 1972 that also includes an example in the Metropolitan's own collection. The slight, idiosyncratic curvature of these over-lifesize vertical figurative posts reflects the carvers' sensitivities to the natural properties of the wood. Within the corpus, each work embodies a distinct sensibility. While the form in the example in the Metropolitan is that of a modeled body, this more columnar interpretation is boldly inscribed with symbolic notations.
Central African power figures are the collaborative creations of Kongo sculptors and ritual specialists, or nganga. The sculptural representation produced by the carver is conceived as a receptacle to house a specific mystical force that is drawn to the work by the nganga through the addition of ingredients introduced into an abdominal cavity.The figure's posture and gesture, leaning forward with one hand placed on the hip and the other arm brandishing a spear, is the aggressive attitude of one who uncompromisingly serves as a protector to its constituents. The accumulation of nails embedded on every available inch of the torso and arms attest to the work's role not only as advocate but as witness and enforcer of affairs critical to its community. Each nail documents a sealed vow, a signed treaty, or an effort to eradicate evil. Ultimately, this work inspired reflection on the consequences of transgressing established codes of social conduct. See the example of the Metropolitan Museum's Power Figure.
Dogon communities situated in the elevated rocky heights of Mali's spectacular Bandiagara Escarpment manage to wrest subsistence crops from poor soil in an arid climate. The most distinctive subject of Dogon devotional sculpture is that of a standing figure with raised arms—a gesture commonly interpreted as a prayer or an appeal for rain. Dating back possibly as far as the fifteenth century, this female figure has been related to a group of at least ten sculptures originating from the Bondum region, in the village of Tintam. Among this corpus, four figures are entirely covered with the same distinctive, thick, ochre-red clay slip. The other three are: a mother and child figure in the collection of the Musée du quai Branly, Paris (inventory no. 70.199.9.3); and two female figures in the collection of the Museum Rietberg, Zürich, one carrying a jar on her head and the other with raised arms. The latter is almost identical to this one and can be attributed to the same hand. See a comparative example in the Met's collection.
Master carvers in Senufo communities of Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso have created some of Africa's greatest figurative sculptures. This female figure, collected during a widespread iconoclastic movement, was carved with a male counterpart as part of a pair conceived of as guarantors of social continuity and protection. (The location of the male counterpart is not known.) Pairs of male and female sculptures rendered in idealized form stand among those artists' most prominent works. Initiation societies, known as Poro, likely commissioned these couples carved in wood to refer to the origins of humanity and foundation of society. In some instances such sculptures, called "children of Poro" or pombibele (singular: pombia), became part of the staging for funerary ceremonies commemorating distinguished elders. In other instances, young members of Poro may have carried the sculptures while tapping them regularly on the ground to the rhythm of drums. See the Poro male figure in the Met's collection.
Exceptional for its aesthetic qualities and its rarity, this female figure is the outstanding creation of a Nuna master sculptor. The only comparable example of this monumental and relatively naturalistic figurative genre is in the collection of the Musée du quai Branly, Paris (inventory no. 70.1998.6.1). With their impressive scale, elongated silhouette, interplay of fluid lines and strongly defined forms, and complex incised motifs on their chest and back, these female representations are unique in the corpus of southern Burkina Faso statuary. Although the use of these singular sculptures is not known, their exceptional artistry suggests that they played a critical role in Nuna communities. Such works were kept hidden in houses of ritual specialists of the oracular vura association. The elders were credited with control of certain bush spirits personified through the sculpture.
This plank mask evokes the form of a bird, identified as a giant kingfisher, or kinta. The contrast between the wide, flat rectangular plank—minimally adorned with abrus seeds across its surface and circumscribed by vegetable fibers—and the small bird head at the summit creates a whimsical composition. This highly original interpretation is among the most celebrated of the rather small and little-known corpus of Tussian masks. Such works are produced and used in the context of initiation ceremonies of the Do association. The most important socio-religious institution among Tussian peoples, Do organizes initiations which occur in two stages. During the first of these, which occurs every two years, each initiate is given an animal namesake. This animal becomes his personal emblem that may be depicted in mask form through a variety of mediums.
In Baule communities, Mblo performances feature masked dancers who impersonate familiar subjects that range from animals to human caricatures. The dances culminate in a performance that pays tribute to the community's most admired member. The individual thus honored is depicted by a mask that is conceived as his or her artistic "double" or "namesake." The highly stylized compositions of double-faced twin masks are the abstract projection of ideas relating to complementary opposites. In the Barbier-Mueller mask, obtained through Roger Bédiat, a French colonial official in Côte d'Ivoire during the mid-1930s, the right red side has greater dominance given its slightly larger scale and more complex trilobed coiffure. The bold juxtaposition of color and formal asymmetry thus imbues the composition with dynamism. See the Mblo mask from the Met's collection.
This rare face mask is among the earliest preserved examples of a sculptural genre known as kidumu. The incised and painted motifs that enhance such works were conceived as graphic signs that encoded information relating to Tsaayi history. Such masks also served as instruments of divination during animated performances. This work was collected in the Teke region and acquired by the painter André Derain at an unknown date. It first appeared in the West in 1930, when the artist lent it to the exhibition Art africain et Art océanien at the Galerie du Théâtre Pigalle in Paris.
Among the Baule peoples of Côte d'Ivoire, human experience evolves out of and remains inextricably linked to the ancestral spirit world, which controls and determines the fate of the living. The carving of statuettes that represent wild and untamed nature spirits called asye usu may be prescribed by a diviner as a means of alleviating an individual's problem. The aesthetic appeal of such works contributes importantly to ensuring their efficacy. Although nature spirits are conceived to be hideous, their sculptural representations are idealized in order to flatter and seduce the entities they address. This elegant and refined figure, acquired by Josef Mueller in the early twentieth century, is especially successful in capturing such an ideal. The heavy eyelids add to the figure's attitude of contemplation. The careful carving of the hands clasped and interlaced, as well as the neat hairstyle and bodily adornments confer upon the figure the culturally desirable attributes of civilization on the wild and disruptive asye usu. Traces of libations survive on the lower half of this work's body, indicating its ceremonial role.
Especially ornate heddle pulleys are designed by Guro carvers for master weavers. They are used in narrow-band looms to hold a bobbin over which the string is stretched, connecting the heddles. When often embellished with anthropomorphic or zoomorphic forms, the pulley hangs constantly in front of the weaver's eyes, accompanying him through his work. In this example, the extremely refined carving of the face, with the bulging forehead, small ears, sloping slit eyes, and small mouth with a delicate smile, suggests the style of the Master of Buafle, a master carver active prior to 1920 in the southeastern part of the Guro region. See a comparative example in the Met's collection.
This ivory figure was intended to be positioned at the summit of a staff of leadership. Throughout the lower Congo region, elephant ivory was a precious commodity that was strictly controlled by Kongo rulers. These leaders commissioned expert sculptors to produce fine ivory sculptures for their personal and courtly use. Insignias like the Barbier-Mueller example were carried by Kongo chiefs as emblems of authority. The condition of the ivory's surface and its coloration suggest extensive handling over many generations. The fluid depiction of the kneeling female subject displays regal attributes of refinement that include complex cicatrization (see glossary) motifs and a distinctive fiber cap. A closely related finial by the same hand entered the collection of Belgium's Royal Museum for Central Africa at Tervuren before 1938. See an Ivory Staff Finial in the Met's collection.
See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about Kongo Ivories.
The rich corpus of human representations created by Chokwe and culturally related artists has included, among others, depictions of historical elites as well as carvings used by ritual specialists. The combination of non-royal and royal iconography in this delicate female figure from the Barbier-Mueller collection makes a definitive interpretation difficult. While the rendering of highly stylized hands and knees formally relates to Chokwe non-royal arts, the figure's refined execution and emphatic gesture (left hand touching the chest, right hand upwards touching the chin) suggest the portrayal of a royal female ancestor. Stylistic features such as its distinctive coiffure have led scholars to attribute the work to a Shinji sculptor.
In Kota society, reverence for exalted ancestors was directed towards family reliquaries. Such ensembles were composed of bundles of sacred relics affixed to the lower part of schematic sculptural evocations encased in precious metals. This especially lovely Kota sculptural element is characterized by the refined precision of its exacting composition, contrasting chromatic palette, and play between recessed and projecting elements. Kota patrons especially appreciated the luminous, reflective quality of the metallic surfaces, and different types of metal were often used on a single work to enhance this effect. Here three different tones of metal are strategically integrated into a lively and especially delicate tribute to an extended family's forbearers.
In 1905, the Bamum sovereign, King Ibrahim Njoya, offered this elaborately carved and ornamented seat to a German captain, Hans Glauning, as a tribute to their alliance. The circular seating surface is supported by four figures that represent royal servants. Each figure leans forward, touching his chin with the left hand in a sign of reverence and submission. Both this gesture and the position of the supporting attendants allude to the hierarchical relationship of the king to his retainers. Lavishly decorated with costly colored beads, cowrie shells, and copper foil, this royal seat was originally part of Njoya's treasury. Through the abstract graphic motifs of alternate blue and white triangles on the lip of the stool that symbolize the pelt of a leopard, and zigzags on the servants' legs depicting stylized frogs, this seat emphasized the king's identity as his people's leader, responsible for their prosperity.
One of West Africa's earliest sculptural traditions developed in Mali's Inland Delta of the Niger River. There, by the middle of the first millennium A.D., the urban center of Jenne-Jeno flourished as a result of trans-Saharan trade. Regional artists created terracotta sculptures depicting a variety of subjects that range from equestrian warriors and soldiers to individuals whose postures and gestures suggest attitudes of devotion. This sculpture is one of a small group of formally and iconographically related figures that are distinctive for the relatively small dimension of the bare head at the body's summit.See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about Jenne-Jeno and the Inland Niger Delta.
The urban center of Jenne-Jeno flourished in Mali's Inland Delta of the Niger River in the ninth century A.D., but declined and was abandoned by 1400. Terracotta figures and items of cast brass and forged iron testify to the sophistication of this cosmopolitan society. In miniaturized format and on an intimate scale, this figurine reflects continuities across media in the broader material culture of an archaeological tradition renowned for its sculptural representations in fired clay. The devotional posture of the arms and the arrangement of the legs are identical to that of the terracotta kneeling male figure.See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about Jenne-Jeno and the Inland Niger Delta.
Both an astonishing graphic and technical achievement, this work is the unique and highly original creation of a master metalsmith. The dazzling accumulation of delicately rendered details on the man's face, hairstyle, and garment distract the viewer from the complex nature of the overarching composition: that is, a male figure with oversized arms and hands reaching above and framing his head and grasping two symmetrical red copper war axes or agricultural implements. Beyond the formal accomplishment of the composition, the work's complex manipulation of various colored metals attests to a virtuosic mastery of the lost-wax casting process.
See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about Jenne-Jeno and the Inland Niger Delta.
Head crests depicting beautiful women with elaborate coiffures are the spectacular creations of Ejagham artists from Nigeria's southeastern forest region. In order to achieve an intensely naturalistic and lifelike aspect, an antelope skin softened by being soaked in water is stretched over a sculpted wooden armature. In this example, the finely featured face is surmounted by the dramatic structure of the hairstyle, which is composed of five coiled, braided tresses. These formidable extensions are meant to resemble animal horns and suggest wild power. Attached to a basketry cap and worn on top of the head, such headdresses were owned by men's associations and danced during funerals and initiations. See a comparative example in the Met's collection.
Refined, highly naturalistic sculptural representations in fired clay were produced by artists in southwestern Nigeria between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries. Such works are identified with the civilization that developed around the ancient Yoruba city-state of Ife. The medium used to give shape to such forms resonates with Yoruba accounts of genesis in which the divine creator gave shape to humanity from modeled clay. Despite their idealization, the sensitive modeling of the visages in the extant corpus suggests that their authors sought to capture the likenesses of many different individuals. This example is additionally distinguished by a complex ornament suspended by two cords next to the right ear, which may indicate its subject's especially high rank and status.
See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about Ife Terracottas.
With its forward-leaning stance and staring eyes, this figure from the Biwat people of the Yuat River in northeast New Guinea was intended to crown the central ridgepole at the top of the gable of a men's ceremonial house. When in place, it gazed down at the comings and goings of the people below, and was protected by an awning of basketry or sago palm leaves to help safeguard it from the elements.There is little information about the imagery and significance of Biwat sculpture. However, it is possible that the figure represents a dangerous ancestral being, known in the nearby village of Kinakaten as Bilishoi. According to oral tradition, Bilishoi, after leaving his original village, killed a group of men who were building a ceremonial house. Fleeing a counterattack by others, he climbed to the top of the ridgepole of the house, where the counterattackers began to throw spears at him. Bilishoi fended off the spears with his elbows until finally he was struck and killed by a spear hurled by a man using a spear thrower, which gave it extra velocity and force. The placement of a wood effigy of Bilishoi on the ridgepole of a ceremonial house may have evoked the memory of deaths that occurred during warfare as well as the destiny of a man too powerful and reckless to respect social conventions.
Art in the Papuan Gulf region on the southeast coast of New Guinea was primarily associated with the large communal men's houses, known as dubu daima in the Urama Island and Era River region, where this work originated. Art and religion in the Papuan Gulf centered primarily on powerful spirits (imunu), each of which was typically associated with a specific place within the landscape, rivers, or sea, and linked to the particular clan in whose territory it dwelt. In the past, the interior of the men's house was partitioned into cubicles, each of which belonged to a specific clan or subclan. Within their cubicle, clan members constructed a shrine to house the sacred spirit boards, figures, human and animal skulls, and other sacred objects associated with the clan's various imunu.Flat, anthropomorphic figures such as this one, called bioma, were created to decorate the skulls of pigs or crocodiles that were presented to the imunu to honor them for their help during the hunt. In its original context, the present work would have been placed atop or just behind the back of a pig or crocodile skull so that the figure leaned against the wall of the shrine for support. The geometric designs on bioma figures likely encoded aspects of clan oral traditions and were specific enough to enable an informed observer to identify the clan affiliation of the image.
Initiation rites to mark the transformation of adolescents into adults were—and, in some areas, remain—a central element of religious life for many Pacific peoples. During certain male initiations in the Witu Islands northeast of New Guinea one or possibly more of the adult men involved in the ceremony wore a mask of the type seen here, accompanied by a shaggy costume of leaves that covered the wearer's body and further concealed his identity.At times, one of these distinctive masks would be displayed on a pedestal at the center of the open front of an elaborately painted initiation house. Virtually nothing is known about the precise nature and use of these remarkable masks or the identity of the beings they portray. Although the masks have some human attributes—such as nose ornaments and the cup-shaped projection at the top, which originally held a globular wig made from human hair—their prominent eyes, projecting wedge-shaped faces, and menacing teeth suggest that they almost certainly represent supernatural entities.
Created exclusively in the southern region of the island of New Ireland, kulap figures depicted individuals who had recently died. The figures served as temporary abodes for the spirits of the dead, which might otherwise wander, harming the living. Carved from soft, chalk-like limestone, kulap were made by carvers living near the stone quarries in the Rossel Mountains. When an individual died, a male relative traveled to the mountains and acquired a kulap to bring back to the village. There it was erected, along with other kulap, in a funerary shrine set up inside a ceremonial building surrounded by an enclosure. Only men could view the kulap display, although women often assembled outside the compound to mourn their lost relatives. After an appropriate period of time, the figures were secretly removed by the men and destroyed or, at times during the colonial period, sold to Westerners. See a kulap figure in the Met's collection.
See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about New Ireland.
Virtually all of the intricately carved and painted masks and sculpture of northern New Ireland are associated with malagan—a complex series of ceremonies and related art forms. Throughout life, individuals compete to acquire the rights, similar to Western copyrights, to create specific malagan images and perform the rituals associated with them. Malagan ceremonies are held to mark nearly all important stages of a person's life. The most numerous and striking masks and carvings, however, are created and used in connection with an individual's final memorial ceremony, which often occurs months or years after his or her death. The masks and carvings essentially constitute a sort of visual résumé, demonstrating the person's lifetime achievements in obtaining various types of malagan.Likely employed during one or more stages of such a memorial ceremony, this malagan mask was worn over the head like a helmet. It is unusual for its highly naturalistic face, which possibly portrays a specific individual and was created by modeling beeswax over a carved wood core. The snakes, whose sinuous bodies weave in and out of the two vertical panels above the ears, may symbolize the gradual ebbing of the life force within the human body.See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about New Ireland.
Vital to transportation, fishing, and warfare, canoes in the western Solomon Islands were formerly lavishly adorned. At the base of the canoe prow was a distinctive figurehead depicting a stylized human bust known in the Roviana Lagoon region, where this example was collected, as a nguzunguzu. Attached at the waterline so that it dipped into the water as the canoe rode the waves, the nguzunguzu served as a supernatural guardian, ensuring a safe passage and a successful expedition.Nguzunguzu are shown with enlarged heads and large circular ear ornaments within their artificially elongated earlobes. Their faces are inlaid with intricate designs in mother-of-pearl, similar to the face paint patterns worn by men in the region. The jutting jaws were reportedly attributes of spirits, and the figureheads were variously said to portray, or afford protection from, dangerous sea spirits called kesoko. This nguzunguzu holds a human head, a reference to the headhunting raids in which large war canoes were formerly employed. See a Solomon Islands canoe prow ornament in the Met's collection.
See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about the Solomon Islands.
Among the most intricate and widespread forms of jewelry in the southwest Pacific is the kapkap, a disk-shaped ornament fashioned from the shell of a giant clam and overlaid with a delicate openwork filigree of turtle shell. This example is probably from the western Solomon Islands, where kapkap were used as head ornaments. Attached, as here, to a fiber headband, kapkap in this area were typically worn around the head with the disk to one side of the forehead.The designs on the turtle-shell overlay of this kapkap are unusual in that they include several representational motifs. The bird images, with curved beaks and pronounced tails, depict frigate birds. They were probably associated with spirits who behaved like or manifested themselves in the form of these majestic creatures. The small human heads, their earlobes stretched and adorned with circular ear ornaments, may refer to the former practice of headhunting, which continued in the Solomon Islands until the end of the nineteenth century. See another form of kapkap from the Santa Cruz Islands in the Met's collection.
Masks on the island of Nissan in the northern Solomon Islands were made and worn by men. The precise forms and uses of masks on Nissan are not well documented, but masks of the type seen here appear to have been made and used in connection with the gardening activities that took place in preparation for major feasts. Manufactured in secret, the masks were worn with long garments of bark cloth that largely concealed the wearers' bodies so that they resembled forest spirits. On occasion, leaves were attached to the costumes to increase the effect. Once dressed, the masked performers made their way to the gardens where they could be seen by all members of the community.As work in the gardens progressed, the masked figures periodically made unannounced visits to the plots, at times shooting arrows without points at the gardeners to make them work harder and drive off any malevolent magic that might have been cast against the gardens by enemies. Once the garden work and the feast were completed, the masks were thrown into the sea. When gardening activities for the next feast commenced, a new group of masks was created and the cycle began again. See a mask from Nissan in the Met's collection.
Many of the art forms in northern Vanuatu are associated with grade systems, which are a hierarchical series of male initiations, each of which gives the initiate progressively greater religious and political authority during life, as well as a higher status in the realm of the ancestors. Within the grade system, high-ranking men, who are believed to have more supernatural power, eat separately from men of lower status. Men of each rank typically prepare or eat their food on a separate platter. The platters are primarily used for nalot, a preparation made from crops such as breadfruit, taro, or bananas that are cooked and pounded to produce a food resembling a large pancake. The nalot is then doused with hot coconut milk and often kept warm with stones that have been heated in the fire. The hot stones occasionally produce scorch marks, examples of which can be seen on this platter.The ornate decoration of this platter indicates that it was used by high-ranking individuals. It is adorned at one end with a human figure, perhaps depicting a specific high-ranking man or possibly an ancestor or spirit. The rows of semicircular motifs at the other end likely represent the tusks of pigs, the most valuable and sacred animal throughout Vanuatu. See another ceremonial platter from Vanuatu in the Met's collection.
In the Torres Strait Islands, between Australia and New Guinea, a distinctive series of masking traditions developed, with artists typically fashioning masks from turtle shell. The people of Saibai Island, just off the coast of New Guinea, however, developed a unique tradition of wood masks whose imagery is closely related to the turtle-shell masks of the eastern region of the strait. In both areas, masks almost universally took the form of human faces with lozenge-shaped eyes, prominent noses, artificially extended earlobes, grinning mouths, and lifelike coiffures and beards made from human hair.One of the contexts in which masks in the Torres Strait were widely used was in increase rites–ceremonies performed to guarantee bountiful harvests or the abundance of fish and game. This appears to be case on Saibai, where the wood masks were reportedly worn by dancers during rituals intended to promote the fertility of crops, particularly certain types of fruit. See turtle shell masks from the Torres Strait in the Met's collection: 1978.412.1510, 1978.412.729.
With a minimalist aesthetic that combines subtle curves with a forceful rigid angularity, the unique human images from the atoll of Nukuoro, just north of the equator in the Caroline Islands, are among the most renowned forms of Oceanic sculpture. Nukuorans formerly venerated both deities and deified ancestors. Each divinity was manifest in a specific object, called a tino, under the care of a religious specialist. The tino could be a natural object, such as a stone or animal, or a human figure (dinonga eidu).Dinonga eidu occurred in two sizes. Large examples, some more than seven feet (2.17 m) high, were housed in the island's central ceremonial house. Smaller versions, such as this one, may have been kept in clan shrines or, possibly, in individual family dwellings. Seen here unadorned, this figure was probably dressed in garments of matting or bark cloth, decorated with flowers, and presented with offerings, when in use. These adornments were periodically renewed for important religious festivals, such as harvest rites.
With a rich, smooth patina imparted by years of use, this exquisite figure from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands originally formed part of the handle of a fan. In its original form, the figure stood atop a shaft, a small portion of which remains at the base, that was about eight inches (20 cm) long and to which was attached a triangular fan blade made from plaited coconut leaves. Fans with such ornately carved handles were not mundane items but rather ceremonial objects carried exclusively by high-ranking chiefs as symbols of their exalted status. The figure likely represents a deity or deified ancestor, and the fan, like its noble owner, would have had substantial mana (supernatural power) that was potentially dangerous to lower-ranking individuals. The imposing mana of fan handles in the Cook Islands is evident in the fact that they were, at times, converted directly into deity images by removing the fan blade and binding the shaft with sacred bark cloth and feathers.
A central element of ceremonial life in Fiji is the drinking of kava, a mildly narcotic beverage prepared from the roots of the kava plant. Today kava is served in coconut shell cups filled from a large bowl during communal kava ceremonies. In the past, however, kava drinking was a highly restricted sacred activity typically conducted within spirit houses and limited to priests, chiefs, and high-ranking male elders. During these rites, the participants were possessed by ancestral spirits, who partook of the kava through these human intermediaries. To drink, the participant knelt or lay upon the ground and sipped the kava from a shallow wood vessel or leaf-lined pit using a wooden or reed drinking straw. The kava vessels used in these rites occur in both geometric shapes and naturalistic forms, such as humans, ducks, or turtles. When in use, this rare human-shaped kava bowl would have been laid on its back on the ground and the shallow depression formed by the body filled with the sacred beverage. See a turtle-shaped kava bowl from Fiji in the Met's collection.
In addition to its renowned stone figures, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) had an extensive tradition of wood sculpture, which included both realistic and highly stylized renditions of the human form. The most naturalistic of all Rapa Nui wood sculptures are the male figures known as moai tangata. While there is little precise information on their nature and significance, moai tangata likely portray ancestors and may have been used by individual families in private religious observances honoring their forbearers. The imagery of moai tangata is typically conventionalized, depicting the ancestor as an idealized male figure. However, some examples incorporate unusual and highly specific features, indicating that they may have been intended as realistic portraits. The sagging cheek and throat of this figure suggests that it depicts a specific individual who had a goiter or had suffered a stroke. The figure's unusual imagery may have been the source of its appeal to the pioneering modernist sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein, who once had this work in his personal collection. See a moai tangata in the Met's collection.
See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about Easter Island.
The Toba Batak people of northern Sumatra in Indonesia are among the most accomplished sculptors in Island Southeast Asia. This powerful equestrian figure was created as a funerary monument and portrays a prominent village chief, or raja, who may also have served as a priest (datu). Members of this particular Toba Batak subgroup practiced cremation, and a stone urn containing the ashes of the raja would have been placed in front of the equestrian figure, which was accompanied by a seated female image depicting his wife. As a mark of his aristocratic status, the raja is mounted not on a horse but on a singa—a composite supernatural creature said locally to represent Raja Padoha (also called Naga Padoha), a god of the subterranean world. Singa served as protectors of the nobility. The form and features of singa vary to a considerable extent in Batak sculpture. Here it is shown as a horse-like animal with dog-like hindquarters and a long, backward-curving tongue that further emphasizes its otherworldly nature.
See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about the Batak.
The precise origin of this unique shield is uncertain. However, the style of the human image on the finial indicates that it is most likely from the island of Ataúro, part of the nation of East Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands north of Australia. The blocky, angular style of the figure with its thin, pendant limbs and conical hat, closely resembles Ataúro's distinctive ancestor figures, known as itara. However, while itara figures are either male or female, depending on the ancestor's gender, the present image, with both a phallus and prominent breasts, appears to be hermaphroditic. This suggests that the figure may represent a supernatural being who perhaps combines the normally separate male and female phenomena in Ataúro cosmology into a single entity. Too small to afford any substantial protection from the spears, arrows, and bladed weapons used in Ataúro warfare, the shield likely served a ceremonial or religious function. One account collected on the island states that such shields belonged to religious specialists and possessed magical properties, which enabled the user to fly or become invisible. See ancestor figures from Ataúro in the Met's collection: 1988.143.44, 1988.143.179.