Carved wooden moai papa figure of a female with beard and bone or shell eyes.

Collection type: Object
Description: Carved wooden moai papa figure of a female with beard and bone or shell eyes.
Long description: Carved wooden human figure. The eyebrows and hair are carved into the head, but not incised. The mouth is mostly closed (slightly parted horizontal lips) and no teeth have been added. The nose is vertically elongated and prominent with carved-out, slightly flared nostrils. There are large eyes with holes carved-out for inlay, but the inlay is missing in the right eye. There is a small sculpted goatee beard hanging from the tip of the chin, which is smooth and tear-drop shaped. The ear lobes are distended with ear ornaments (plugs or rings) carved in them. There is a lump formed on the back of the neck, smooth and round. The clavicles are visible on the chest, both left and right, accentuated by a raised, curved line of wood carved into the torso. Nipples are also formed on the chest, about half way down and spread far apart. There is a faint line down the centre of the chest. The belly is round, and a groove delineates the pelvis on the front and the waist/buttocks on the back. Female genitalia are present, demarcated by a small slit cut into the wood between the legs. The arms are carved straight down at the sides and do not touch the body apart from the hands being physically attached at the hips. There are five digits incised on each hand, as well as a prominent circular knob (representing a bone?) formed on the outside of each wrist. The knob protrudes more on the right than on the left. The buttocks are round and protruding, although there are no distinctive markings. The legs appear very slightly bent, and the knees are visible. There are seven toes carved on each foot as well as prominent circular knobs formed on the sides of each ankle. Damage: There is a large crack from the shoulder to the middle of the back on the right hand side. It has not been repaired. There is also a small crack down the side of the right buttock, as well as small cracks beginning to appear on the right leg. [Notes compiled by Emily Stokes-Rees, April 2003, in response to the detailed enquiries of Dederen Francois Te Pito.]
Geographical reference: Rapa Nui
Oceania > Polynesia > Rapa Nui
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector James Linton Palmer; Field collector HMS Topaze; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Date made: Possibly before 1881
Date collected: ?Prior to 1881
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Material Shell, Material Glass, Process Carved, Process Inlaid
Dimensions: Length: max 325 mm, Width: max 83 mm, Weight 454 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.65.43 PR no.: 657/ 12394
Research and responses: Dr Jo Anne Van Tilburg and Christian Arevalo Pakarati (an Rapanui speaking artist from Easter Island) noted during a research visit on 26/2/2004 that the correct local Rapanui term for this object is 'moai paapaa'. [ZM 10/3/2004]
'... while the Institute has a most valuable collection of skulls and skeletons, it has on the other hand never succeeded in collecting an ethnographical museum of any educational value. A few articles, not unfamiliar to the visitors of any large ethnographical museum, such as weapons, dresses, models &c., have been presented to the Society at various times, but while they have occupied much wall space in the rooms of the Institute, and thus cramped the library, they are neither sufficient in number nor capable of arrangement in any order complete enough to serve the purpose intended. Upon a careful review of the whole of the circumstances, therefore, the Council have resolved that it would be the wisest course for the Institute to devote all spare funds to the enlargement of the Library, and to maintain the collection of skulls and skeletons, but to give up the attempt, which they are convinced would be a hopeless one, to establish any sufficiently large and comprehensive ethnographical museum. Their view was confirmed by the independent professional opinion of a valuer nominated by an eminent firm, who estimated the value of all the ethnographical specimens referred to at only £45. ... The Council resolved, therefore, subject to the approval of this meeting, to accept two offers, amounting together to £54, or £9 more than the valuer's estimate, viz: one of £14 from Mr Franks, curator of the Christy Collection, for the Burmese gong, and one of £40 from Major-General Pitt Rivers for the other objects, with the view of their being ultimately deposited at South Kensington. ...' [Report of the Council of the Anthropological Institute ...' [JAI, vol 10 (1881) 438-9] [AP 6/12/2005]
A comparable figure is reproduced in Katherine Routledge's The Mystery of Easter Island (1920), figure 119 - "moai papa" [Dan Hicks 02/06/2012]
For a suggestion that some of the objects from Rapa Nui in the PRM's founding collection may have been obtained from James Linton Palmer, who visited the island during the Pacific voyage of HMS Topaze (1865-1869), see pages 564-5 in 'Easter Island and Pitcairn Island', by Dan Hicks, Sue Hamilton, Mike Seager Thomas, and Ruth Whitehouse, in World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum: A Characterization, edited by Dan Hicks and Alice Stevenson (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2013), pp. 564-72: ''There are...8 artefacts from the PRM’s founding collection that are recorded as being from Easter Island: 3 obsidian tools (1884.140.589–591), a cord of human hair from the collection of John G. Wood (1884.48.39), a wooden dance paddle or club (1884.55.75), and 3 carved wooden figures (1884.65.43–45). It is possible that some of these PRM founding collection objects were obtained from John Linton Palmer, who collected material from Easter Island when serving as Fleet Surgeon on the 1868 voyage of HMS Topaze or perhaps in subsequent years. This is particularly likely given Pitt-Rivers’ close association with the Ethnological Society of London: the Society’s journal published Palmer’s account of ‘observations of the inhabitants and antiquities of Easter Island’ in 1870.' [JC 8 8 2014]
Associated publications: Published as number 246 in Corpus Rapa Nui: Inventaire mondial de la statuaire en bois de l'îles de Pâques / Global Inventory of the Wooden Statuary of Easter Island, by François Dederen ('Te Pito'), Braine-L'Alleud, Belgium: François Dederen (2013). The author's annotated line drawings (front and back) are on page 408 (see photocopy in RDF). On page 112 of his 'Description sommaire des pieces principales / Concise Description of the Principal Pieces', Dederen writes: 'Planche 246. (Pitt Rivers Museum) 1885.65.43 Moai kaua féminin possédant une coiffure à chignon, une barniche et sept orteils à chaque pied. Il lui manque l'oeil droit.'; 'Plate 246 (Pitt River [sic] Museum) 1884.65.43. This feminine moai kaua has chignon hairdressing, a goatee, seven toes at each foot and the right eye is missing.' The figure is also listed on page 96. [JC 11 10 2013]

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