Statue , Kanak, Nouvelle-Calédonie

collects ion privée, Royaume-Uni
collects ion Christopher et Anna Thorpe, Sydney

Sur la base, une très ancienne étiquette avec une inscription à l'encre, fragmentaire : "[...] used as [...] by natives [...] Fidji Islands".

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Les anciennes statues figuratives Kanak représentant un personnage dressé à l'extrémité d'un pieu sont très rares. Plus exceptionnelles encore sont celles à caractère hermaphrodite, comme ici. A notre connaissance, il n'en existe qu'un seul autre témoin : la statue donnée au musée d'ethnographie du Trocadéro en1932 par Philippe Rey Lescure (missionnaire en Nouvelle-Calédonie de 1922 à 1933) aujourd'hui dans les collects ions du musée du quai Branly (inv. n° 71.1932.55.108). 

Cette dernière, très apparentée également sur le plan stylistique - notamment dans la rondeur et la tension des galbes - fut collects ée dans le district de Ponerihouen, dans la région Centre de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Voir aussi Guiart (1953, couverture), pour une autre sculpture de style comparable.

Si nous ignorons la signification de ce - très rare - caractère hermaphrodite, en revanche l'ancienne étiquette, figurant à l'arrière de la base, nous renseigne sur l'histoire de cette œuvre. L''inscription "used as [...] by natives [...] Fidji Islands", indique qu'elle fut selon toute vraisemblance collects ée dans une plantation des îles Fidji, où des travailleurs Kanak ont été envoyés vers 1850, puis apportée au Royaume-Uni, où elle fut transmise de génération en génération, avant d'être acquise par Anna et Christopher Thorpe, lors d'une de succession.

Kanak anthropomorphic figure, New Caledonia

Ancient Kanak figurative statues that represent a standing figure at the tip of a stake are very rare. They are even more unusual when they are hermaphrodites, as this example is. To our knowledge, only one other specimen still exists: a statue donated to the Museum of Ethnography of the Trocadéro in 1932 by Philippe Rey Lescure (missionary in New Caledonia from 1922 to 1933) and now kept in the collects ions of the Musée du Quai Branly (inv. n° 71.1932.55.108).

It is also closely related in terms of style - especially in the roundness and tension of its curves - and was collects ed in the Ponerihouen district, in the central region of New Caledonia. See also Guiart (1953, cover picture) for another sculpture of comparable style.

Although we do not know the sigificance of this very rare hermaphrodite figure, the old label, stuck on the rear of the stand, provides information on the history of this piece. It reads: "used as [...] by natives [...] Fidji Islands", which indicates that it was most probably collects ed in a plantation in the Fiji Islands - where Kanak workers were sent around 1850 - before being brought back to the United Kingdom where it was passed on from one generation to the next before it was acquired by Anna and Christopher Thorpe.