Male Figure, Wooden
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Collector
content: Midshipman Samuel B. Elliott
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: CARVED WOODEN MALE FIGURE, UNCLOTHED, WITH BOTH HANDS IN FRONT AT CHEST AND WAIST. THE FIGURE'S LEGS HAVE ROUNDED ENDS WITH NO FEET. PUBLICATION: VIOLA, MARGOLIS, "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," S.I. PRESS, 1985, ILLUS. P. 126. THIS OBJECT WAS ON PERMANENT EXHIBIT IN THE PACIFIC HALL, N.M.N.H., HALL 8, CASE 40, FROM 1962 AND WAS REMOVED AND EXHIBITED IN "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86. IT WAS RETURNED TO HALL 8 AFTER THE END OF "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS" WHERE IT REMAINED UNTIL THE HALL CAME DOWN IN 2004.
label: Notes
content: E2996 and E2999 are a pair of wooden figures. These items form the only pair of matakau figures known from Fiji. E2996 is male and E2999 is female, with symmetrical features. Probably from Vanua Levu. They must have represented ancestral or mythical beings, kept in a sacred place such as a temple (burekalou).
label: Record Last Modified
content: 19 Dec 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Fiji, Melanesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Fijian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E2996-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Figure
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 43 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 17 cm