This figure appears to be by the same hand as one that was purchased in England in the late 1920s or early 1930s and published by Dodd, E., The Ring of Fire Polynesian Art, Hartford, 1967, p. 274, as in the collection of Mrs. Olbrechts of Tervuren, Belgium. At that time its authenticity was not in question and Dodd calls it "an unusal miniature" of the war god Ku. Later it was suspected of being a fake and published as such by Cox and Davenport (Cox, J.H., and Davenport, W.H., Hawaiian Sculpture, Honolulu, 1974, p. 50, fig. 19). Adriaan Claerhout then conducted an exhaustive enquiry (set out in the literature above) and came to the conclusion that both statues were the work of the famous imitator of Polynesian art, James Little.
James Edward Little (1876-1953) led an eventful but sad life in the west of England. He served four prison sentences, three for theft (1915, 1932 and 1934) and one for knowingly receiving stolen artefacts (1939). Little's hand was recognised towards the end of the 19th century by the more astute dealers and collectors, but he continued to sell to many distinguished museums and collectors, including Sir Henry Wellcome. Captain A.W.F.Fuller maintained throughout his life a kind of amused interest in Little's work and bought examples at every opportunity. The collection is now in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago