Artwork Page for Gorget (Rei Miro)

Details / Information for Gorget (Rei Miro)

Gorget (Rei Miro)

1800s

Pacific Islands, Polynesia, Rapa Nui

(Easter Island)
Medium
wood
Measurements
Overall: 30.8 x 69.8 cm (12 1/8 x 27 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken 1961.406
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Chiefly women of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) wore crescent-shaped gorgets like this one.

Description

Elegant, crescent-shaped gorgets or chest ornaments known as rei miro (“necklace of wood”) were generally worn by chiefly women of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The abstracted forms at the tips of this example replace the human heads that are more typical.
A dark brown wood gorget, an ornament shaped like a crescent, features two smaller abstract like-crescents shapes tenting up in the center instead of curving in. The crescent shape is outlined on the inside of the gorget as well, a flat shape in the center with the edges arcing up around it, creating a smile-like shape.

Gorget (Rei Miro)

1800s

Pacific Islands, Polynesia, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

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