Specifications

• Height: 52 cm
• Material: wood
• Position: squatting
• Gender: male
• Indigenous name:
• Price realised: Dfl. 140.000,- hp

Provenance

Leendert van Lier, Blaricum, Christies Amsterdam 15-4-1997, lot 108

Publications

Additional information

Notice the blocks beneath the feet and the buttocks, which give expression to the mythical status of the figure. In the Leti Archipelago these statues were raised in commemoration of the village founder. In situ they were put on ornamented pillars. This is also the case with war leaders, being the right hand of the ritual leader and descendant of the village founder. The head was usually crowned by a head ornament, here broken.