Wooden Female Figure
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1840
name: label: Collector
content: Titian R. Peale
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: CARVED, WOODEN STANDING FIGURE OF A WOMAN, WITH ONE HAND IN FRONT OF HER AND OTHER BEHIND. THE FIGURE IS UNCLOTHED EXCEPT FOR THE REMNANTS OF A BARKCLOTH TURBAN WHICH HAS A TRAIL DOWN THE BACK. THE FEET ARE ROUNDED OFF LUGS. OLD PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS ORIGINAL PEALE TAG ON FOREHEAD OF FIGURE. PUBLICATION: KARL ERICK LARSSON: FIJIAN STUDIES, GOTEBORG ETHNOLOGISKA STUDIER NO. 25, 1960, P. 17. EXHIBITED NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, 1979-1980. EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86. EXHIBITED SITES "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," 1987-89.
label: Notes
content: From card: "Standing wooden figure of a woman, in 3/4 profile, left side detail. Right hand over the mons, and left hand behind. Figure originally had a band of bark cloth wrapped around the head, An original tag read as follows: 'Bua Bay, Vanua Levu figurine, was obtained in a consecrated grove at Sandal[wood] Bay on the Island of Vanua Levu.' where a numerous party of natives had been slain and eaten. Many such figures were set up and ornamented with turbans, hairpins and arms (weapons) of the dead, around the mound where this idol was obtained. None of the natives could be persuaded to approach the spot [apparently the Peale manuscript also includes this same note, per Kaeppler, 1989, p 90].' When Wm. Watkins, Div. of Wood Technology examined this specimen (8/30/56) he said that the material appeared to be one of the ebonies but without mutilation a more exact identification could not be made. Ref: Karl Erik Larsson: Fijian Studies, Goteborg Etnologiska Studier. No. 25, 1960, p. 17. Loaned to NCA 5/17/79. Returned 3/24/80. Lent to Director's Office Oct, 1990." See Kaeppler, Adrienne. 1989. Museums of the World: Stages for the Study of Ethnohistory" in Susan M. Pearce, "Museum Studies in Material Culture. London: Leicester University Press. p 90.
label: Notes
content: See p. 173 in Leclerc-Caffarel, Stephanie (2013) Exchange relations between Fijians and Euro-Americans (1774-1854), with reference to museum collections Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia. Leclerc-Caffarel indicates that this figure was bought on Vanua Levu, somewhere between Vaturua and Matainole (Bua Bay) in June 1840. Titian Peale exchanged it "for a paper of vermilion." See Wilkes 1845, III: 227 - 228: "On the way from Vaturua to Matainole, a piece of consecrated ground was passed, on which were mounds of stone, with a rude [sic] idol, dressed with a turban and the Feejee hairpins. The idol was surrounded by clubs set up edgewise, and many spears, arrows, trinkets, cocoa-nuts, &c, lay around, whch had evidently been placed there as offerings. A large party of natives, who were with our gentlemen, on seeing them approach it, deserted, excepting a man and boy who, contrary to the others, seemed anxious for them to partake of the offerings which lay about, and offered to sell the idol, which was bought for a paper of vermillion. Neither of them, however, could be tempted to touch a single article himself, although they had no objection to our gentlemen doing so. On the nex day, Mr. Peale returning from his jaunt took his purchase and carried it on board."
label: Notes
content: Illustrated Fig. 133, p. 192, caption p. 193, in Hooper, Steven, and Adi Meretu Ratunabuabua. 2016. Fiji art and life in the Pacific. Norwich: Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas. Identified as Matakau (Female Figure); wood, barkcloth.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 5 Jun 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Mbua (Bua) Bay, Vanua Levu Island, 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: E2998-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Figure
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 14 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 39 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 10 cm