These images belong to the pre-European period of Rarotongan culture, prior to Williams’ first missionary visit in 1823 and the subsequent swift conversion of the population. From a sculptural viewpoint this image reveals a masterly skill in the carving of the very hard ‘ironwood’ (Casuarina equisetifolia), using stone, shell and tooth tools, and possibly rudimentary metal tools obtained from European ships which visited the area before the arrival of the missionaries.

Reliable information concerning the identity of these ‘staff gods’ and their role in Rarotongan religious practices is lacking, but their general form, considered in the light of knowledge of other Polynesian cultures, suggests the following possible interpretation. Polynesian gods and hereditary chiefs (who were their earthly descendants) possessed a special efficacious quality, usually termed mana, which was capable of bringing about abundance and success in important activities. However, the ability of chiefly mana to produce these results was dependent on the maintenance of an appropriate relationship between gods] chiefs and the people, notably through the proper observance of ritual procedures, the details of which differed in the various Polynesian societies. Manufactured objects, like ‘staff gods’, served as a focus for these rituals and often symbolised in material form the most important philosophical tenets of the society. With respect to these ‘staff gods’ it can be said that certain hardwoods, including ironwood, were conceptually associated with gods/ chiefs and their productive powers and were carved by men into images, canoes and weapons. Correspondingly, bark cloth was associated with the people generally and in particular with women, who manufactured it.

It is therefore suggested that these ‘staff gods’ represented in symbolic terms, and at two levels, an ideal relationship between two different yet complementary elements, a combination considered to be essential to life and prosperity. At one level the association of the phallic wood image with the bark cloth binding was a reference to male and female sexuality and to procreation. At another level these ‘staff gods’ symbolised the productive potential of the partnership between gods/chiefs (hardwood) and the people (bark cloth), a partnership which in everyday life was manifested in mutual offerings and co-operation, the polygamy of chiefs, and their role in co-ordinating all important activities.

Steven Hooper, 1997

Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection, Vol. 2: Pacific, African and Native North American Art, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997) pp. 16-17.

In 1972, at the end of my first dinner at Bob and Lisa’s London house, I was taken aback to be invited with the other guests to retire to Bob’s bedroom. The reason for this unexpected invitation became immediately apparent. A Bacon portrait of Lisa was on the left, the ‘toy department’ of tiny sculptures was on the right, beautiful objects were arranged on the white marble ‘milk bar’ around Bob’s bed, and display cabinets on the far wall held enticing treasures. But I only had eyes for three remarkable Polynesian sculptures placed on boxes on the left-hand wall. These were the Maori figure and the Rarotongan fisherman’s god and staff god.

Although broken long ago from a 3m-long barkcloth-wrapped shaft, the staff god commanded the room. I marvelled at the mastery of the sculptor working with his tropical hardwood, offering his skills as an act of worship to his ancestors to create an imposing focus for ritual devotions. In a composition of grace and power, the arms of the main figure reach down to the smaller male and female figures which form his body. My grandfather had a smaller example, but this was of a different order of magnificence, and I shall not forget the impact of that first visit to Smith Square. This was how Bob lived with his collection every day, and this is why it is now in the Sainsbury Centre, so others can have the opportunity to be similarly inspired.

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Steven Hooper, Director, Sainsbury Research Unit