Mangarevan people / Male Figure / 18th-19th centuryMangarevan people
Male Figure
18th-19th century

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Creator Nationality: Asian; Pacific; Polynesian; Mangarevan
Creator Name-CRT: Mangarevan people
Title: Male Figure
View: Full View
Creation Start Date: 1700
Creation End Date: 1899
Creation Date: 18th-19th century
Object Type: Sculpture
Materials and Techniques: wood
Dimensions: H. 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm)
AMICA Contributor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: New York, New York, USA
ID Number: 1979.206.1466
Credit Line: The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
Rights: http://www.metmuseum.org/
Context:

Mangareva is a small group of islands east of Tahiti in Polynesia. When the islands were first contacted by the outside world, the Mangarevans had a polytheistic religion and created wooden images of a number of different gods. By 1836 virtually all these images had been destroyed at the insistence of Christian missionaries, and only about a dozen survive today. Overall, Mangarevan religion was similar to that of other Polynesian peoples. The Mangarevans had two groups of gods: an older more remote group responsible for the creation of the cosmos and a second more functional group associated with the activities of everyday life.

Because most Mangarevan figures were destroyed early on, there is little specific information on their nature and use, and the identity of the god represented by this figure remains unknown. European accounts indicate that a wooden image was carved when 'a new god had spoken through the mouth of a priest.' The figures were kept in temple structures at sacred areas called 'marae' under the care of religious specialists.


AMICA ID: MMA_.1979.206.1466
AMICA Library Year: 2000
Media Metadata Rights: Copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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