Post #444421 by vanzac on Thu, Apr 2, 2009 2:33 PM

Hi,
Here is a little draft of a "would be " tiki, bought about 25 years ago, in the Carribean Island of "la Martinique. It was part of a chess game, and came along with its other 31 fellow pawns, Queens and Kings, and the vendor (I found this jewel on a fruit market!!!) assumed it came from Polynesia!! At that time, I hardly knew nothing about the Pacific, but was attracted by African Art and Sculpture (I was in "Ecole des Beaux Arts" in Paris, studying Architecutre!!) So I bought the chess game and here I am, with those little sculptures!
Here is a pawn (image below) it is about 1 inch in height. I just liked the style, and I'm still happy to play chess with them, today!! It's quite funny and seems to laught at you (especially whe you make a bad move!!!) with a tricky side "wooden" glance!!
All pieces are sculpted in Ebony (on one side) and red exotic wood (on the other side)

If you want to see more tikis, hundreds of them , and real Polynesian ones, check my blog:
http://www.tahitiblues.blogspot.com
stephane