Identifying a wooden corbel - Age? Origin?

Hi all,

My family received what we believe to be an old corbel in a job lot a few months back, with all sorts of weird stuff. E.g. a retiring present from a famous local coach, to decent pottery. We originally overlooked it, but now we're trying to source some sort of knowledge on it, but it's proving very difficult. Originally, I shared this corbel on reddit on R/Antiques and have had a variety of responses. The original thread is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Antiques/c...=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

We believe that it's some form of corbel from a church or home dating back to the 19th maybe 18th century. This is looking at dowels being used and design, however this is all we can depict. It could be a knight, a bearded man, even a god. However we can't find anything remotely similar.

We've also had a curve ball thrown into the mix, as some have said it looks a lot like the Kon-Tiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki_expedition)

It DOES very much look like the Kon-Tiki logo (https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQaPRJ_AoR0EYspJn6Bh3w-pM_sUubCK8xDNQ&s), but it feels older. That's not saying someone hasn't carved it inspired post 1947. Some features are off such as the brows and the mouth, the eyes are square etc, but I'd be lying if I said they didn't look alike.

The wood appears to be oak, it's pretty heavy.

Can anyone shed any light on this mysterious piece of wood? I would like to look into it more, however I don't know where to start, who to contact and what to ask. It may not even be a corbel! It could be off a chair for all we know. That's just our guess.


Thank you for any knowledge shared!

- Hannah

To add, we're in the UK, the job lot was bought in Lancashire.

 

Kon - Tiki looking, More than anything else I see...

 

Could have been made from driftwood.
I agree, it does look like the Kon-tiki face on the expedition sail. Maybe a souvenir from Rapa Nui/Easter Island?
The use of driftwood makes sense for a possible Rapa Nui origin, because there aren't many trees on the island.

It bears no resemblance to Norman carvings imo. Except for the beard, but obviously that is not something to go by.

 

@Taupou