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Male figure – ‘Fishermen’s god’
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Cook Islands, Rarotonga
Late 18th/early 19th century
Wood
Height: 40.7 cm
Aquired: 1949
UEA 189The Cook Islands lie in Polynesia, 1,600 miles northeast of New Zealand. Rarotonga is the largest of these islands. This rare piece is called a ‘Fisherman’s god’ because fishermen would have placed it on their canoe and made offerings to it to invoke success in their expeditions. Polynesian sculptors did not make ‘lifelike’ work, rather they wanted their work to seem potent, powerful, and solid. A large phallus has unfortunately been sawn off, probably because the figure was first collected by missionaries.
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