Old Rare Classic MOAI Figure Wood Carving Art EASTER ISLAND Sculpture

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Old Rare Classic MOAI Figure Wood Carving Art EASTER ISLAND Sculpture :
$49.00

Check out all 3 MOAI figures offered for sale by bikmaus on

Beautiful - Museum quality

Commanding MOAI human figure wood carving with a large head
Excellent details throughout
Note the well defined arms, nipples, protruding bellybutton, and slender curved thumb/fingers
Classic styling

Signed/incised on the bottom back by a talentedEaster Island artist
CARLOS R. - probably CARLOS RAPU - Easter Island family name - see other Moai figure offered by bikmaus

Good overall condition - stained wood glued on a wooden base
Minor wear and tear throughout - chip on the nose and chin - minor dings on the front of the chin and forehead - sold as is
Well carved - solid - powerful
On base approx: 9 7/8 inches high x 3 5/8 wide (shoulders) x 2 5/8 deep (chin to back)

Moai
Selections from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The moai are monolithic statues, their minimalist style related to forms found throughout Poynesia. Moai are carved in relatively flat planes, the faces bearing proud but enigmatic expressions. The human figures would be outlined in the rock wall first, then chipped away until only the image was left. The over-large heads (a three-to-five ratio between the head and the trunk, a sculptural trait that demonstrates the Polynesian belief in the sanctity of the chiefly head) have heavy brows and elongated noses with a distinctive fish-hook-shaped curl of the nostrils. The lips protrude in a thin pout. Like the nose, the ears are elongated and oblong in form. The jaw lines stand out against the truncated neck. The torsos are heavy, and, sometimes, the clavicles are subtly outlined in stone. The arms are carved in bas relief and rest against the body in various positions, hands and long slender fingers resting along the crests of the hips, meeting at the hami (loincloth), with the thumbs sometimes pointing towards the navel. Generally, the anatomical features of the backs are not detailed, but sometimes bear a ring and girdle motif on the buttocks and lower back. Except for one kneeling moai, the statues do not have clearly visible legs.
Though moai are whole-body statues, they are commonly referred to as \"Easter Island heads\". This is partly because of the disproportionate size of most moai heads and partly because, from the invention of photography until the 1950s, the only moai standing on the island were the statues on the slopes of Rano Raraku, many of which are buried to their shoulders. Some of the \"heads\" at Rano Raraku have been excavated and their bodies seen, and observed to have markings that had been protected from erosion by their burial.

Many archaeologists suggest that \"[the] statues were thus symbols of authority and power, both religious and political. But they were not only symbols. To the people who erected and used them, they were actual repositories of sacred spirit. Carved stone and wooden objects in ancient Polynesian religions, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, were believed to be charged by a magical spiritual essence called mana.\"

Multiple purchases shipped together.
Buyer to pay shipping and insurance costs.
Canadian buyers subject to Canadian taxes.

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