Head with Horns

Unknown

before 1894

Sandalwood with traces of polychromy on a lacewood base, Polychromy

J. Paul Getty Museum

A carved wooden head with horns sits atop a wooden base. The head has a human-like face with cracked skin and pointed ears. The horns curve upwards and outwards from the forehead. This sculpture was photographed and labeled "Marquesan Idole" by Jules Agostini (French, 1859-1930) in November 1894, in the Marquesas Islands, in Nuku Hiva (Paris, musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Agostini's photo albums). Sent to work for the French State in Oceania, Agostini stopped in the Marquesas Islands in late November 1894 just before arriving in Tahiti, where he stayed until 1898. Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903), who first sojourned in Oceania between 1891 and 1893, left France again in 1895, arriving in Tahiti in September of that year. The artist knew this sculpture from two photographs (a front view identical to th