A large and powerfully carved tii, or deified ancestor. The figure is represented in a highly stylized anthropomorphic form. The arms, bent square at the elbows descend from the shoulders to the front of the torso with the hands resting on the belly. The legs come around the outer edge of the figure from the hips. The head is is triangular and has stylized, almost indiscernible features. Society Islands, Polynesia. Hard alveolate and variegated grey lava with a patina of age and weathering (various old breaks). 51 cm. 18th century or earlier. From the family collection of several generations of doctors in the Society Islands in the mid 20th century.