Representational and abstract faces are found on clubs and dance paddles from Rapa Nui. There are about sixty examples known. There is considerable debate about the function of ua. Drawings by Julien Viaud (1872) show a Rapanui man leaning on a staff. In a summary of observations by eighteenth and nineteenth-century visitors, Michael and Catherine Orliac suggest that "the ua staff was an insignia of authority, rather than a weapon." (Orliac 2008: 156-157) The two faces carved on the front and back of this staff allude to the illimitable vision and knowledge of the creator god Makemake. Thus the staff is a symbol of the owner's authority, power and status. The faces are said to be "reminiscent of the numerous petroglyphs in which the god Makemake appears." (Orliac 1999: 345)

Provenance:
Pierre Moos, Paris 2006
Loudmer. "Arts Primitifs" Hotel Drouot Paris, June 1995: lot 208