This is one of the earliest examples of what Moore later called his 'internal/external forms'. The central drawing below the inscription New Ireland was his interpretation of how the Stone Age carvers of this Pacific island (whose work was known as Melanesian or Oceanic art) 'made forms inside another form - enclosed'. Wilkinson remarks that Bird Basket 1939 (LH 205) was directly inspired by New Ireland sculpture. See also HMF 946 and 952.