The Statue of A'a from Rurutu is a wooden sculpture of the god A'a that was made on the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

island of

Rurutu Rūrutu is the northernmost island in the Austral archipelago of French Polynesia, and the name of a commune consisting solely of that island. It is situated south of Tahiti. Its land area is .Austral archipelago. In the early nineteenth century, the sculpture was given by the islanders to the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...

to mark their conversion to Christianity. Following this, it was brought back to England to be displayed, first in the museum of the LMS and then in the British Museum. The figure of A'a is famous as one of the finest surviving pieces of Polynesian sculpture, and in the twenty-first century the sculpture is, according to Julie Adams, curator of the Oceania collection at the British Museum "an international celebrity".

Description

The statue of A'a is a wooden

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

figure, 117 cm high and 36 cm wide. It is, in the estimation of

Alfred Gell Alfred Antony Francis Gell, (; June 12, 1945 – January 28, 1997) was a British social anthropologist whose most influential work concerned art, language, symbolism and ritual. He was trained by Edmund Leach (MPhil, Cambridge University) and R ...

, "arguably the finest extant piece of Polynesian sculpture". The figure is hollow, and has a removable back panel allowing access to the interior. The sculpture's arms are carved in high relief; its legs are separated and slightly bent. The figure has no feet or base, and it is unknown if it did when it was created. The lower legs, right buttock, and left arm of the sculpture are damaged, and the penis has been broken off completely. While the other damage could be the result of deterioration over time, the severing of the figure's penis appears to have been deliberate, though it is not known whether it was by British missionaries or Polynesian converts. Thirty smaller figures are carved on the surface of the statue. Many of these are positioned to mark features on the human body, such as the eyes, nose, and mouth, though some do not obviously correspond with any human feature. The figures are carved in two distinct styles; sixteen of the figures are upright with arms over the torso, while fourteen lie spread-eagled, with arms and legs outstretched. Possibly these two distinct styles of figure are intended to represent male and female forms respectively. These figures are symmetrically distributed across A'a, with the exception of those on the lower abdomen, where there is an upright figure on the right side of A'a and a splayed figure on the left. It is not clear whether this asymmetry was deliberate.

History

The earliest records of A'a date to 1821, when the statue was presented to the missionaries of the LMS on

Ra'iatea Raiatea or Ra'iatea ( Tahitian: ''Ra‘iātea'') is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. The island is widely regarded as the "centre" of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the ...

, the second largest of the

Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the F ...

in French Polynesia. It had been brought there from Rurutu, where it was made. The sculpture itself could be much older:

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...

carried out in 2015 suggests that A'a was created between 1591 and 1647. According to Rurutuan tradition, A'a is made from the wood of the

pua keni keni ''Fagraea berteroana'' ( orth. variant ''F. berteriana''), commonly known as the pua keni keni, pua kenikeni or perfume flower tree, is a small spreading tree or a large shrub which grows in the sub-tropics, where temperatures are 10 °C ...

(''Fagraea berteriana'') that is native to islands in the eastern Pacific, though tests conducted in 2015 suggested that the figure is in fact made from

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus '' Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for ...

, possibly ''Santalum insulare''. A'a was probably made using stone-bladed tools, though if it was made after the arrival of Europeans to Polynesia in the 1760s iron tools may also have been used in its construction. Ray or shark skin rasps, breadfruit leaves, cowrie shells and coconut oil would have been used to finish and polish the statue. According to a Rurutuan tradition, A'a was carved by Amaiterai, who had visited London and encountered the Christian god there. The cavity originally, according to this story, held three figures, representing the three elements of the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

– God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It has been suggested that Amaiterai in this story was in fact

Omai Mai (c.1751-late 1779), known as Omai in Britain, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the second Pacific Islander to visit Europe, after Ahu-toru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768. Life Ma'i, born c.1751, described himself ...

, who in 1774 had become the second Pacific Islander known to visit Europe. The name "Amaiterai", the legendary creator of A'a, may be a corruption of "Omaiterai", or "Omai the Great". In 1821, A'a was given to missionaries from the

based on the island of Ra'iatea, as a symbol of the islanders' conversion to Christianity. It was sent back to London by these missionaries, and became part of the collection of the LMS museum. From 1890, the LMS loaned much of their collection of Polynesian art, including A'a, to the British Museum; in 1911 the Museum acquired the sculpture. It is not currently on display in the museum, but since the 1980s has been exhibited around the world, including in New York, Canberra, Paris, and London.

Context

The works acquired by the British Museum from the London Missionary Society make up some of the best-known works of Polynesian art, including A'a. A'a itself, though part of a corpus of Polynesian god-figures with features such as the smaller figures on the body, large head, and rounded stomach, is according to Julie Adams "recognized by experts as a unique figure in Polynesian art". A god figure from Rarotonga, also in the collection of the British Museum, has three male humanoid figures carved in high relief on its torso, similar to those which cover A'a.

Purpose

When A'a was brought to the LMS missionaries in 1821, 24 "small gods" were found inside its cavity. It has long been believed that A'a was originally constructed to hold these small gods. However, the size and shape of the cavity suggest that it was originally created to hold some other objects – an assortment of small gods could have equally been housed in a much simpler cavity. Anthropologist Steven Hooper argues that in fact A'a was originally created as a casket to house the bones of a revered ancestor; the small gods were only placed into A'a for ease of transport to Ra'iatea.

Identification

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review '' WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

, one of the missionaries who witnessed A'a being presented to the LMS on Ra'iatea, identified the sculpture as representing the god "Aa", both in a letter of 1822 to the directors of the LMS informing them that the sculpture was being delivered, and in his 1837 book about his experiences in Polynesia.

Lancelot Threlkeld Lancelot Edward Threlkeld (20 October 1788 – 10 October 1859) was an English missionary, primarily based in Australia. He was married twice and survived by sons and daughters from both marriages. Thelkeld is known for his work with Biraban i ...

– another missionary, whose boat brought the gods of Rurutu to Raiatea – likewise described the figure as "the great god Aa". However, in 1824 the LMS' publication ''Missionary Sketches'' referred to the sculpture as "Taaroa Upoo Vahu", under which name the sculpture was also recorded in the 1826 LMS museum catalogue. According to Julian Harding, "there is little or no evidence" for Ellis' identification of the figure as Ta'aroa. The name "A'a" is not otherwise known in Polynesian cosmology, but

Ta'aroa Ta'aroa is the supreme creator god in the mythology of the Society Islands of French Polynesia. While the use of the ʻeta is appropriate given the pronunciation of his name, as is typically the case with Tahitian words it is often omitted in pr ...

was a Polynesian creator-god, though not one known from the indigenous traditions of Rurutu: possibly because the local cult of A'a had displaced it. Anthropologist Anne Lavondès suggests that "A'a" was a general term for this type of god-figure, rather than the specific name of the god itself, while Dr. Niel Gunson, who specialises in Pacific history, identifies A'a with the father god

Avatea In Cook Islands mythology, Avatea (also known as Vatea; meaning 'noon' or 'light') was a lunar deity and the father of gods and men in Mangaian myth of origin. His eyes were thought to be the Sun and the Moon; he was also known as the god of ligh ...

Copies

After the statue of A'a had been loaned to the British Museum, the museum made a cast of A'a to be displayed at an exhibition at the museum of the LMS. A number of other casts were subsequently made at the request of museums around the world. Copies of the figure have also been acquired by individual collectors, including the artists

Roland Penrose Sir Roland Algernon Penrose (14 October 1900 – 23 April 1984) was an English artist, historian and poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art and an associate of the surrealists in the United Kingdom. During the Second World ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Mo ...

, and a cast of A'a is today displayed in the mayor's office on Rurutu.

References

Sources

Books

* * *

Journals

* *