Vanishingly Rare - An Easter Island Gorget
1st August 2026-
A 19th century rei miro, Easter Island included in the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas online only sale on 20th August 2026
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An Easter Island gorget, rei miro, Polynesia, 19th century, pre-sale estimate £10,000-£20,000
A millennium ago, an intrepid group of ancient Polynesians navigated some 2,300 miles west of Chile's coast to reach a small, previously uninhabited island they named Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Over the centuries they erected hundreds of monumental moai, towering stone images of revered ancestors and high-ranking leaders created to protect the island's living inhabitants. Sustaining themselves through ingenious agricultural techniques adapted to the island's harsh volcanic landscape, the Rapa Nui people flourished in isolation for centuries before the arrival of Dutch explorers in 1722, developing one of the Pacific's most distinctive artistic traditions.
Elegant crescent-shaped wooden gorgets known as rei miro were worn as an important expression of status and authority signifying noble birth. Rei miro were reputedly worn primarily by chiefly women but also formed part of the ceremonial regalia of the island's paramount chief (ariki mau), who reportedly wore six rei miro. Hardwood was exceptionally scarce on Rapa Nui, so the material was highly valued. Often carved and polished from driftwood, each rei miro was shaped by the natural form of the timber available. Surviving rei miro are vanishingly rare.
The 19th century example, lot 317, included in the Arts of Africa, Oceania and The Americas, Antiquities online only sale on 20th August 2026 displays the classic form, with a graceful crescent terminating in stylised anthropomorphic heads carved in profile, its centre decorated with a shallow incised crescent. One of the heads is missing but nonetheless, its estimated pre-sale value is £10,000-£20,000.
Today, only a small number remain in museum and private collections, with comparable 19th century examples in the MET Gallery, New York (accession no. 1979.206.1527) and The Cleveland Museum of Art (accession no. 1961.406). A Rapa Nui (Easter Island) wooden rei miro pectoral ornament sold for €812,000 at a Christie's auction in Paris on June 23, 2021, as part of the Michel Périnet Collection sale.
Arts of Africa, Oceania and The Americas specialist, Will Hobbs said, "It is a true honour to be handling this extremely rare survivor from one of the world's most remote Pacific cultures."
