STATUETTE and BOX

a. White,bisque female figure in long draped robes which reveal tips of bare feet. She stands upright with hands together,concealed beneath the folds of her apparel. The face is calm, marked between the eyebrows with the illuminating urna. The hair is swept up and is covered by a cloak reaching almost to the waist at the back and gathered into a hood which projects high above in the form of a head-dress at the front. It is likely that the figure is a goddess. There is an ornate necklace on the breast. The eye apertures and nostrils have been pierced into the ceramic and there is a small round hole at the base, Japanese characters are inscribed alongside. Figure is moulded and is almost identical to H89.925. b. Pine box. Edges are glued and lid is completely removable. Lid can be secured by two metal sewing pins. There are large Japanese characters painted on the lid. 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.

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History Collection

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