Statue anthropomorphe Moai kava kava Lot n° 286

Anthropomorphic statue Moai kava kava presenting a naked male figure standing with his hands on his hips. His torso is swollen and his face has a beautiful hieratic expression accentuated by inlays of shells and obsidian. The headdress is sculpted in relief of a stylized animal, probably a sea turtle. This figure is not strictly speaking a kava kava but it represents an aku aku or spirit of the other world. According to the mythology of this peul and its intermediaries with the divine, these beings, half-man half-god, are the intermediaries with the divine. Hardwood, old red and brown patina Rapa Nui, Easter Island, late 19th - early 20th century. 29 x 8 x 6cm Provenance: the current owner acquired it from Mr Libio Scamperle of Rome and Santiago de Chile, a great collector of this culture. Bibliography : WENGER Denise & DUFLON Charles-Edouard, L'ile de Pâques est ailleurs, fig. page 74 for a work close to it.