Figure

Item number 3092/32 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Data
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Description

Wooden carving of a squatting figure with its knees drawn up to its body, resting its elbows on its knees and its chin on the ends of its arms. The figure is carved on a rounded base that has un-even wedge-shaped patterning around it. Its mouth has a row of triangular teeth carved into it, and there are two "u" shaped marks carved into each side of the face (each pair is carved one above the other). The brow of the figure is pronounced on its smooth rounded head, there is a band of wedge-shaped carvings topped with a line above the figure's brow. A similar "u" shaped pattern is carved along the figure's limbs on either side of the body. The pattern along the arms meets in the centre of the shoulders. Along the spine of the figure there is an uneven pattern of "u" shaped marks with a linear border. Some of the lines are filled with white lime.

Specific Techniques

The collector said the wood for the figure was carved with stone tools, and the designs carved using a stick with shark teeth fixed onto it. She also said the surface was smoothed using stingray skin.

Narrative

Said to have been collected from the village of Wabutuma (Kiriwina Island) by a missionary named Miss J. Pearce. Pearce (Australia) had served as a missionary in the Trobriand Islands in the 1920s.