87
FIG. 10 (above):
Gourd, ipu hue wai
pawehe.
Hawai’i. Late 18th–early
19th century.
Gourd. H: 33 cm.
Mark Blackburn Collection.
FIG. 11 (right):
Barkcloth, hiapo.
Niue. 19th century.
Barkcloth, pigment. 178.5 × 231 cm.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology
and Ethnology, Harvard University,
gift of William McM. Woodworth,
1911.
ATEA
the worldly domain of human endeavor and
the sacred, extraordinary realm inhabited by
the gods. Hikule’o was thus strongly associated
with the Tu’i Tonga, the fi rst line of paramount
ruling chiefs, each of whom was understood to
be her earthly representative.4 Carved from a
close-grained dark wood, the fi gure’s sculpted
body is masterful in its treatment of volumetric
form, which is manipulated to defi ne the outer
parameters of a strictly bounded space. Formal
and taut, the fi gure’s profi le is defi ned by a stark
verticality created by the uprightness of her back
that extends upward to the nape of the neck and
is echoed in the fl attened profi le of her face at
the front (fi g. 2b). The balance and restraint of
the fi gure’s compact posture, articulated through
the angular geometry of her breasts, legs, and
buttocks, belie her tremendous vigor.
When whalebone relics and other sacred
objects were not in use, these were wrapped
in barkcloth or mat wrappings (sometimes
smeared with turmeric) and kept secluded within
the darkened interior of a spirit house such
as the one featured in the installation (fi g. 4).
The earliest known portable god house (bure
kalou), it was collected in Fiji before 1834,
likely obtained by a vessel engaged in the lucrative
sandalwood and bêche-de-mer (sea cucumber)
trade.5 Its complex construction features
a sturdy framework completely wrapped
in fi ne-grade coconut fi ber cord, or magimagi,
the intensive preparation of which was itself
considered a means of honoring the ancestral
gods. Extremely well preserved for its age, the
design of this shrine is unique in that it has two
spires. Each of these has a wooden handle embellished
with swathes of small white shell discs
that loop around the supports and around the
opening into the interior. They resemble the buli
dina (egg cowrie shells, Ovula ovum) that were
used to decorate full-scale temples and were a
signifi er of godly presence, as well as chiefl y
authority and power. In Fiji, ritual interactions
with ancestral gods and spirits (kalou) were mediated
by priests (bete) and took place in these
large temples that dominated the architecture
of the village. The portability of these smaller
shrines was an important aspect of their utility,
allowing for chiefs and leaders to consult their
gods and reconstruct the political hierarchy of