Dolphin carving

This is a wood carving of a dolphin balancing on its tail. It was made in 1984 and purchased at the markets in Nukualofa, Tonga by New Zealander Bernie Kernot. It is a small, portable carving made from a light timber with a dark grain. It is one of several carved figures in the Pacific Cultures Collection made for the tourist market in Tonga in the mid to late twentieth century.

Significance

In the 1800s, wood carving was a well established art form in Tonga. By the mid 1900s, it had diminished as the religious and customary contexts for its production had radically changed. In the 1960s and 1970s, visiting cruise ships to Nukualofa were a major market for handicrafts and curios. Tourism to Tonga stimulated a revival of wood carving in a range of mainly non-indigenous forms.

In 1984, Kernot noted that these included Hawaiian style temple figures, generalised "Polynesian" figures, mermaid and warrior figures. Dolphin figures like this one were common and depicted individually or groupings of three. They may have been inspired by a bronze dolphin sculpture on the Nukualofa foreshore (Kernot 1984).

Acquisition History

This carving is part of a larger group of items collected by Bernie Kernot in 1983-1984 while on university sabbatical to Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. The carved items are from the workshop of Nau in Nukualofa. At this time, Kernot was also on the executive of the Pacific Arts Association (PAA) and while on this trip he publicised the PAA among Pacific academics and artists. Kernot was a senior lecturer in anthropology and Maori Studies at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand between 1967 and 1996. He published widely on Maori sociology, politics, art and religion.

References

Kernot, Bernie, 1984 Tonga Report (unpublished field notes). Te Papa File.