A magnificent rapa nui male figure, Easter Island

moai kavakava, the male figure standing on bent legs with one leg stepping forward, the phallus of conical shape, the upper body arched forward with an emaciated chest, the head pitched forward with expressionistic, gaunt features and eyes inset with obsidian and bird (aves) bone, on the head the representation of a zoo-anthropomorphic creature with a human unbearded head, hands with five fingers, a tail, and striation on the back; exceptionally fine reddish brown partially lustrous patina with partial encrustation and orange-red pigment on the teeth.

Christie's, London, June 29, 1983, lot 71
Acquired at the above auction

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, A Family Album: Brooklyn Collects, March 2 - July 1, 2001

Geraldine Norman, "£10 gamble yields £100,440," The Times, London, June 30, 1983, p. 2 (illustrated)

Excellent condition overall; obsidian in right eye missing, as seen on catalogue illustration; minor scratches, wear and tear from traditional use; mounted without any invasion into the wood.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Wooden figures from Easter Island (one of the most remote islands in Polynesia, some 2000 miles from the nearest landmass) representing emaciated, sometimes almost skeletal, men locally called moai kavakava are named after moai for the monumental monolithic human figures found on Easter Island and the word kavakava meaning "ribs". Little is known about their cultural context. According to Forment, in her important exhibition catalog (in MRAH 1990: 116), certain akuaku (spirits) have the appearance of moai kavakava and show themselves to peoples at night. The cultural hero Tuu-ko-ihu is reported to have once encountered a certain number of akuaku during an excursion and created the first moai kavakava figures after their image.

Although the precise function of moai kavakava is still the subject of research, most moai kavakava show evidence of suspension. However, the presence or absence of a suspension hole at the nape of the neck is not an indication of the relative age of moai kavakava. The Rosenthal Figure has no pierced suspension loop but shows clear evidence of wear below the lower jaw, presumably caused by a fiber thread once running around its neck for suspension. See Chauvet (1935: pl. XLIV, figs. 116-121 and 123, 126-130) for numerous figures with slight stylistic variations and all lacking a suspension hole.

The anthropo-zoomorphic head-glyph on the Rosenthal Figure, representing a human creature with a long beard following the jaw line and a lizard-like tail, is typical (cf. Heyerdahl 1975: 183, fig. 34) and might stand in iconographic context with the corpus of moai tangata moko, the wooden representations of lizard men (cf. Forment in MRAH 1990: 116 and cat. 21-24).

The Rosenthal Figure shows traces of orange pigment in the mouth, a feature rarely seen (or preserved) in other known moai kavakava figures. Cf. one figure previously in the collections of the English sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein and Charles Ratton, said to have been collected in 1774 on Captain Cook's second voyage (MRAH 1990: 182, cat. 4) and a second figure also previously in the Epstein and subsequently the Carlo Monzino Collection (Sotheby's, Paris, September 30, 2002, lot 31).

The overall posture of moai kavakava follows quite rigidly a set canon, usually displaying bent legs, a forward arching torso with arms held to the sides, and a head with progenic open mouth bent forward. Working within this canon, the unknown artist of the Rosenthal Figure, however, has elongated the limbs and the torso in order to create an extreme curvature of the body. The slenderness of the figure is further reinforced by the narrow face with its relatively low cheekbones and forcefully focusing eyes. The slight tilt of the head to the figure's right side gives this moai kavakava an unusually powerful, almost hypnotic expression. For another figure with similar facial features cf. the moai kavakava previously in the collections of the French surrealist André Breton and the publisher René Gaffé (Cahiers d'Art, Quatrième Année, Paris, 1929, fig. 171). 

The great genius of the Rosenthal Figure's creator, however, lies in the departure from the static posture of all other known moai kavakava with parallel feet and manifests itself in the forward stepping of the right foot. This posture allows the artist to set the Rosenthal figure in motion, while at the same time the head remains static. This fusion of contradicting movements creates a haunting image of sublime power, making the Rosenthal moai kavakava one of the great examples of its kind.