Lot 211 Dα

Cf. Barbier, J.P. and Newton, D., (Eds.), Islands and Ancestors: Indigenous Styles of Southeast Asia, New York, 1988, p.61, fig.65, for an in situ photograph taken near Sibolga of a similar statue, also depicting an elephant and rider. The image is taken from the 1941 publication, Schnitger, F.M., ‘Megalithen vom Batakland und Nias’ in Ipek, Jahrbuch für prähistorische und ethnographische Kunst. Such stones were erected either during the lifetime of the important person represented or following his death.