In art as well as in other domains, Eastern Polynesia formed a region apart. Unlike Melanesia, for example, where figures are often abstract and polychrome, Polynesian sculpture is rarely painted and relatively realistic. 

But can we really talk of Polynesian art when it was never art for art's sake ? It had above all a religious or decorative function. The wooden or stone anthropomorphic statuettes called "ti'i" or tiki had a religious significance, whereas articles for useful or ornamental purposes were simply given a decorative design. 

The Marquesans were the most skilled in the decorative arts. Their artisans covered the whole surface of all their creations with complicated designs often inspired by the shape of the human body. It is therefore very surprising that their tapa are never decorated, whereas Tongan and Samoan artists, their inferiors in the other arts, were masters in designing material. 

Petroglyphs are the least well known of the Polynesians' graphic works of art. These carved stones can be seen most frequently in the Society Islands. They represent stylized characters including the costume of the leader of a funeral in Tahiti, or turtles and fish in Bora Bora. 

The famous tiki, the Marquesan name for the "ti'i" of Tahiti, is found in various situations, and those decorating combs or the handles of fans are very finely carved. Those that were a little larger and made of wood were perhaps already used for religious purposes. They are to be found as posts, as individual statuettes averaging 30 cm in height, or as components of canoes. Although we can imagine how some of these were used, (the cleat for example), we still do not know whether these carvings, when they formed part of a canoe, indicated ownership or a representation of the Gods indispensable for voyaging. 

The most coarsely fashioned stone or coral "ti'i" were usually found on the marae or at the boundary of sacred land. In the Austral Islands, where the decorative arts no doubt were most characteristically Polynesian, important articles, usually made of wood, were carved with fine geometric motifs. Human forms, especially on drum bases, are completely original and have nothing in common with the famous tiki, which seems today to be the only symbol of Polynesian art.