STATUETTE

White bisque female figure in long robe which reveals the tips of her bare feet. Figure stands upright, her arms concealed beneath the folds of her gown. The face is serene, marked between the brows by the illuminating urna and the hair is swept up, covered by a cloak which reaches almost to the waist at the back and gathered into a high head-dress at the front. It is likely that the figure is a goddess. She wears an ornate necklace and her eyes and nostrils have been pierced into the ceramic. There is a pinhole aperture in the base of the statuette and Japanese characters have been painted alongside in blue.The moulded figure is almost identical to H89.809a. This item, together with a number of other articles, was presented to the W.A. Government following the Sister State agreement between it and the Hyogo State Prefecture on 23 June 1981. The original Hyogo exhibition, set up in mid June in the Allendale Square, was essentially a trade exhibition but Sir Charles Court, the Premier of Western Australia, assured Governor Tokitada Sakai of Japan's Hyogo Prefecture that the exhibits would be used to set up a permanent display, a memento of the Sister State relationship. A part of the Beaufort Street Gallery was set aside for this purpose and the items remained there from 1981 until refurbishing of museum areas in 1989.

Department: 

Collection

History Collection

Collection Item Data