Standing Male Figure, Easter Island

Standing Male Figure, Easter Island
height 18 1/2in (47cm)

Provenance
William Downing Webster (1868-1913)
Lt. Gen. Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers 'Second' Collection, Farnham, England (#7148 written on the back), Cambridge University Library Number Add.9455vol6_p1986/2, given 17 May 1899
Christies, South Kensington, 4 December 1990, Lot 296 (one of two)
English Private Collection

"In 1880, Augustus Henry Lane Fox inherited a large estate and fortune from his great uncle. It was a pivotal year for him, not only did his fortunes and surname change but his formal army career had by now more or less ended, and his arrangement with South Kensington Museum had started to unravel.

On his new private estates in Dorset Pitt-Rivers decided to devote his leisure time to building up a second collection which he would display in a private museum at Farnham on his estate. This Museum would house the archaeological objects he had dug up on his property together with the models he had made of the excavations. More importantly it would show some of the thousands of artefacts he bought between 1880 and 1900." (The Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, WEB, 2013)

Of slender form with proportionally-long arms resting at his side, the torso with a full chest with the bottom of the sternum (xiphoid process) extended and incised rib cage only on the right side; the domed head with eyes inlaid with shells and black stone, heavy lower eyelids and a goatee; dark, reddish-brown patina with "EASTER ISLAND./BT. WEBSTER. 1897./P. 1456." written on the back.