This is a 19th century version of a Leti Island (part of the Maluku Islands in Indonesia) statue evoking an
ancestor that continues to watch over their descendants, provided that in return they are given the
honors which ensure their soul a place of choice in the afterlife. Appearing for the first time in the
culture of the Indonesian archipelago at the dawn of our era, the figure of the ancestor represented
here takes up a whole set of traditional characteristics: the squatting position, the long legs bent back,
and the arms crossed on the knees, thus recalling the figure of the thinker.
