Oceania
What is the connection between Cahors and Polynesia?
In 1838, the museum’s inventory attests to the presence of ‘weapons and utensils of savage peoples […] sent by Captain Bonafous’. Yet he does not appear to have ever visited Polynesia.
Born in Montgesty (Lot department), he was the nephew of Joachim Murat, Marshal of the Empire and brother-in-law of Napoleon, the King of Naples. This family connection facilitated his rise within the ranks of the French Navy. Joseph Bonafous-Murat was appointed commander of a frigate in 1812.
However, when the Bourbons returned to power, he was retired in 1816. He probably joined the merchant navy, but there is no documentary evidence of his life for the next twenty years or so.
In 1830, he rejoined the French Navy and became a frigate captain of the ‘La Thisbée’. In the summer of 1832, he set sail on a two-year expedition to Rio de Janeiro and the ports of Latin America. We know that he was stationed in Valparaíso. He may have acquired these objects in this Chilean port, that was, at that time, a hub for trade with the islands of Oceania.
On his return to France, he offered this collection in 1835 to the museum whilst continuing his career ashore in Toulon, Rochefort and then Marseille. He then returned to the Lot region, became mayor of Anglars-Juillac, where he died in 1864.
Mangareva
The Gambier Islands are an archipelago in French Polynesia. The main island, Mangareva, and the islets surrounding it are spread out around a lagoon. The whole area is protected by a coral reef.
In the early 19th century, there were approximately 1,500 inhabitants in the Gambier Islands. They lived in a harsh environment in one of the vastest of oceans. They were polytheists: they recognised a large number of gods residing in an immaterial world, the Pô. Rongo was among the most important of these gods.
The statues of the gods, known as tikis, are the property of the chiefs. They are kept in small sacred shelters, where they are treated as living beings. Offerings of food and objects are made to them daily.
Experienced carvers use miro (Oceanic rosewood) or tamanu wood. Their reddish colour is associated with power and the sacred, with blood as a vital principle, and with fertility.
All known carved figures from Mangareva are male. The bodies are slender and lacking in musculature, like those of children. The proportions, limbs, chest and even the ears are rendered with great realism. However, other parts of the body are more geometric: triangular noses, straight mouths and elliptical eyes. The arms and hands are relatively stiff and stylised. The legs are slightly bent. The surface of the sculpture is treated with great care through sanding and polishing.
The long and relative isolation of the inhabitants of the Gambier Islands was abruptly interrupted by the arrival of sailors and, above all, missionaries. Between 1834 and 1836, the religious order of the ‘Sacré-cœurs de Picpus’ (Sacred Hearts of Picpus) very quickly converted the population to Catholicism. They capitalised on a prophecy foretelling the arrival of men dressed in white and the end of the old gods. Almost all the cultic objects (of worship) were destroyed during ‘idol-burning’. A few rare examples were sent to Europe as evidence of the missionaries’ success.
Consequently, there are relatively few tikis. The Rongo at the Henri-Martin Museum is the sixth known representation of this god. The other Rongo are held in La Rochelle, in Rome (two examples), in London and in New York.
It is therefore an exceptional artefact classified as a ‘National Treasure’ of France.
