A monumental and rare Hawaiian hand carved stone Aumakua sculpture carved from Vesicular Basalt. It comes from an important old Honolulu collection. It dates to pre contact Hawaii: Pre-1810, 18th century.

The simple modernistic sculpture possesses a fine old dark patina from appropriate great age. We have not seen another like this tall example although human spirit form Aumakua stone sculptures in various sizes and forms are known in museums and private collections.

Our Aumakua comes from an important Honolulu old time collection and with our Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

Dimensions: 21 inches high and 10 inches wide and 9 inches deep with custom wood base; 18.5 inches high without custom base.

Hand carved. Venerated. An important and scarce work of art from America’s western islands.

Provenance: Important old Honolulu collection (revealed to buyer).

History:
Ancient Hawai?i is considered as the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification in 1810 of the Kingdom of Hawai?i by Kamehameha the Great. Stone was used a good deal to represent family or craft gods, ‘aumakua. Some individuals were content to use pieces of unworked stone, whereas others made rough representations of human figures. It should be remembered that it was not the workmanship but the prayers and offerings which gave a material object power (mana) and converted it into a god, no matter what the form. Any individual could make a stone god for him or his family; and the manufacture of gods, particularly by fishermen, continued for some time after the acceptance of Christianity. Ours is an exceptional example by any standard destined for the finest collection.