British Museum collection record for Figure — British Museum (Oc,+.2597)

Catalogue number: British Museum: Oc,+.2597

Passage: Museum number

Reported holder: British Museum

Passage: Institutional catalogue record

Classification: figure

Passage: Object Type

Made during: 19thC (before 1885)

Passage: Production date

Made at: Easter Island

Passage: Production place

Material: wood, bone, obsidian

Passage: Materials

Description: Standing female figure, carved of hard brown wood, very flat: eyes of obsidian surrounded by bone.

Passage: Description

Description: Height: 54.50 centimetres

Passage: Dimensions

Description: 'Presented by A.W. Franks Esq. 18 Sept. 1885. Brought by a sailor from Easter Island.' See comment on Oc,+.2595.

Passage: Acquisition notes

Description: Wood from this figure was tested in 2007 to determine the species but no identification was able to be reached. See Catherine Orliac (2007) 'Botanical Identification of 200 Easter Island Wood Carvings'. Leonardo Pakarati, visit to BM, June 2014: Leo described these figures as being related to fertility – the hand across the belly indicates pregnancy, the hand on the vagina relates to impregnation and birth; sometimes a hand to the breast relates to sustenance of the baby.

Passage: Curator's comments