Head-and-shoulders carved oak bust of an anonymous young Royal Naval rating of World War II, with its associated wooden stand or pedestal, which is inscribed '1939-1945' together with the Naval fouled anchor.

The figure faces forward wearing a seaman's tunic with striped collar and silk, tied in a bow at the front, over a round-necked jersey. The head, with short hair neatly combed, turns slightly to sitter's left. The bust is signed on the back 'ALD 1944'.

This is one of a pair of such heads by the same sculptor, the other being a 'Marine' (SCU0067). He began carving them both in 1944 while still a wartime Major in the Royal Marines, in London, for submission to the War Artists Advisory Committee, who approved and bought them on completion. They were transferred on permanent loan from the Imperial War Museum in November 1947.

Durst (1883-1970) was a carver of religious subjects, figures and animals, and wood engraver. He served in the Royal Marines, 1902–13 and 1914–18, studied at the Central School of Art under Richard Garbe, 1913 and 1920, and at Chartres, and was Curator of the Watts Museum, Compton, 1919–20. He started to practise as a sculptor in 1920, mainly by direct carving in stone, wood and ivory. He also taught wood-carving at the RCA, 1925–40, and (after returning to the Marines, 1940-44) from 1945 to 1948. He was a member of the London Group, 1927–51, and had his first one-man exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in 1930. He carved figures for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1931) and for a number of churches, including the west front of Peterborough Cathedral. His book 'Wood Carving' was published in 1938.