Large God Image, Tahiti, Society Islands

ti'i
height 25 1/2in (65cm)

Provenance
Massachusetts Private Collection
California Private Collection

Robert D. Craig notes, "There seems to be a natural inclination among humans to fashion images of gods and goddesses from earthly materials. Most cultures have left some physical form of them--ranging from the small fertility goddesses made out of clay by the early Sumerians to the highly carved statues later left by the artists in Egypt and India. Polynesians were no exception. Some Polynesians, however, did not give much importance to god images--Tongans and Samoans, for example--and, as a result, fewer images from these islands have survived. Despite the fact that early nineteenth-century Christian missionaries destroyed as many of these as they could, some managed to endure.[. . .]

Most likely the oldest of the Polynesian gods were simple upright stones, unworked by human hands, or perhaps they were slightly incised to give them a more supernatural quality." (Handbook of Polynesian Mythology, ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 116)

This enigmatic Polynesian god image has a mysterious physical presence. Carved in dark red pitted stone, the right hand gesturing upwards towards the head and rests just below the chin. The circular eyes are large and sunken, and situated between faintly carved ears and above a diminutive mouth.