Wooden sculpture of an ancestor from the Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean is the first, as well as one among the most valuable items in the collection. The sculpture was donated in 1876 to the Croatian National Museum by Clementine de la Ronçicre de Clement, born pl. Tomekovic, after it had been given as present to her husband E. de la Ronçicre de Clement" par le roi des sauvages" (from the natives' leader) in 1868. Namely, at the time her husband was the Governor of the French Protectorate over the Social Islands with the seat on Tahiti.
The sculpture represents a stylized male figure. It was carved out of dark brown wood with certain disproportionate anatomic parts. The local name for these sculptures, under which they are known in specialized bibliography, is Moai-kava-kava (literally: "Figure with ribs"). The natives used to carve such sculptures out of wood deposited by flood (forests on Eastern Island have been devastated long since), using obsidian tools. They obtained shiny dark brown surface by polishing them with chorals and sand.
Moai-kava-kava specimens played an important role in rites associated with the ripening of bananas, as well as in initiation ceremonies.
As regards the quality of its making, as well as its style properties, the sculpture may be included among very old and rare specimes not often found in the museums of the world. Famous ethnologist and researcher of Oceanian cultures, Norwegian Thor Heyerdal (Kon-Tiki), came to the Ethnographic Museum on two occasions in order to see this valuable item.
