A RARE EASTER ISLAND FIGURE, the arms at the sides carved free of the body, the hands placed on the hips, the body curved with the head held well back, the eyes with inlay of obsidian discs within pearl-shell circlets, bulging cheeks and prominent brows, the open mouth with carved teeth, short tufted beard, plain cranium, the body with raised spine and small buttocks, old label: Presented by Wm. Hyde Jr. M.D./Idol from Easter Islands [sic], dark glossy patina

細節

A RARE EASTER ISLAND FIGURE, the arms at the sides carved free of the body, the hands placed on the hips, the body curved with the head held well back, the eyes with inlay of obsidian discs within pearl-shell circlets, bulging cheeks and prominent brows, the open mouth with carved teeth, short tufted beard, plain cranium, the body with raised spine and small buttocks, old label: Presented by Wm. Hyde Jr. M.D./Idol from Easter Islands [sic], dark glossy patina
23.5cm. high

拍品專文

Although this figure does not incorporate any explicitly bird-like features, its posture, with the arms held close to the sides and raised head, may suggest a bird transformation. Many bird-man figures are not emaciated, nor bear a glyph on the head or perforated suspension lug.

Horizontally-oriented figures form an integral part of the Easter Island canon. Horizontal figures occur less frequently in other Polynesian traditions: perhaps the most famous "flying" figure is the large stone figure from Puamau, Hivaoa in the Marquesas (Linton, 1925, pl.VI and KaepplerKaufan et al., 1993, p.531, pl.738

Heyerdahl (1976) illustrates two figures in a similar pose, with the head thrown well back (pl.78), one in Leningrad (1432-11) and the other from the Beasley Collection, now in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.