Featured Wooden Carved Figure - Identification Request

Hello,

I have been trying to identify this carved wooden figure but am struggling. Any help or pointers would be great.

Thank you in advance

 

Well I surely don't know what to make of that.

 

With a smile like that he looks like a cartoon character. Funny.

 

I think it's pretty cool!

 

The ears or earrings give an African vibe

 

I get the same vibe...

 

It is a fisherman’s god which comes from Rarotonga, the largest island in the Cook Islands.
Here are a couple of other examples.

 

I am not sure about this one, but I am pretty sure it is not from the Pacific. It has many features that make me think it might be a Makonde carving from East Africa. They make surprisingly bizarre carvings, combining features of human and animal in strange, caricature ways. They work in ebony/African blackwood. Some of the details I see that fit into the Makonde style are the big teeth and big ears:

(the painted one by George Lilanga)

The simple incised lines and triangles, and the indication of a cap or hairline on the head:

https://www.blackwoodconservation.org/makonde-art/

And more general African features - in profile, the face looks like a depiction of a baboon. And the large behind may be a caricature of a characteristic known as steatopygia, seen in some South African groups.

 

Thank you for your thoughts/contributions and I will continue my research!

 

Yes, I must agree, after researching many such examples of Makonde carvings, I see many with similar characteristics as the arms being similar and squat body posture. Initially, I had thought it a fisherman’s god, as I had seen many of them previously, which do indeed also share much in common, though I concede it could just as easily be African in origin instead.