A Nias Standing Figure of a Male Figure

A Nias Standing Figure of a Male Figure with a Stylised Palm Crest and a Scroll Back Knot, Ribbed Necklace, Crossed Arms and Erect Penis 
Raised upon its original base titled: in typical ‘yellow’ paint ‘Sumatra’  
Wood
Indonesia, Nias Peoples 
19th Century

Size: 62.5cm high - 24½ ins high / 71.5cm high - 28¼ ins high (with base)

Provenance:
William Downing Webster (1868 - 1913)
Lieut. General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (1827 - 1900)

cf:
The Pitt Rivers archives record this figure in Volume 4, pl. 1343, as ‘Bought of Webster’ on October 20th 1896. The entry lists ‘two wooden carved Sumatra Idols, male and female’ and with watercolour drawings of both showing two views. They were exhibited at the Farnham Museum, room, 9, case no. 104.

Nias, the largest of 131 smaller islands situated off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, bears a title that has been erroneously attributed to its wooden base. This misattributed title is inscribed in the distinctive script commonly associated with Pitt Rivers.