Oceania
Tuvalu (?)
Figure
Wood, shell
H. 14 7/8 in. (37.8 cm)
Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection
Indiana University Art Museum, 68.214

Little is known about this figure, which is attributed to Tuvalu, formerly Ellice Islands. Tuvalu is geographically part of the South Pacific region known as Micronesia, but culturally is related to the neighboring region of Polynesia. Though free-standing figures are not common from Micronesia, they were abundant in Polynesia, where they usually represented gods and the spirits of ancestors.