A male Moai from Easter Island

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The large stone statues of Easter Island are universally known. They are the symbol of a people who, having lived alone for about 5000 years, nearly disappeared in the decades that followed their discovery by European explorers. The official discovery is dated 1722.

Do not worry, this is not one of these megalithic sculptures classified by UNESCO as world heritage of humanity that Sotheby's wants to sell on November 14 in New York. It is a wooden statue, interesting but necessarily less prestigious.

This island at mid distance between Chile and Tahiti had been occupied by people from Polynesia. Their works in wood have some resemblance, seen from afar, with other works of Polynesia or Papua.

The Sotheby's is a moai kavakava, ie standing male figure. The man is bent forward, with arched legs. The head is big and realistic, and ears stretched down to the level of the chin. The obsidian and bone eyes seem, even on a small photo, have a power of hypnosis. This object is estimated 250 K $.

On 30 September 2002 in Paris, a moai pa'a-pa'a, female, had reached 530 K € fees included, at the same auction house in Paris. The same day, a moai kavakava, so male, was sold 310 K €. The price difference is fully justified by the fact that the female moai are much more rare. This gain is the same as that obtained by Sotheby's on a Cycladic idol, sold $ 1.3 million on June 5 because it was a male figure, much rarer than the females in this category.

In terms of price, we do not expect a very high price for this kavakava, but its estimate is perhaps still a little low.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

I said that the estimate was too low. It was true! This moai was sold at a price more worthy of it: 610 K $ including fees.
It was however smaller than what I imagined before seeing the catalog: 42 cm high.