A three-quarter-length polychrome male figurehead representing a Saracen warrior from the iron screw troopship HMS Himalaya (1854). The figurehead is wearing a traditional Muslim headdress consisting of a long scarf wound around a small cap and dressed in a fighting tunic. He is armed with a short sword, or scimitar, traditionally associated with the East. The decorative motifs on the tunic suggests a rudimentary attempt at Islamic calligraphy. The image of the mighty Saracen and the name Himalaya embody the pseudo-theory of a ‘martial race’, which was appropriate for a troopship that steamed to India, South Africa, the Gold Coast and North America.