I think the statue is wonderful ..though it looks slightly "bendable"
I think it is a bit unfair to suggest that CT is humourless... there is evidence of a rather dry sense of humour in some of his comments in HoME.... for example the origin of the name "Bingo" and it's possible connection to the family of toy koalas made me "lol". And on a French Tolkien website, someone who met him at a dinner party said he was absolutely charming and very amusing.
However given the nonsense he has to put up with I can understand if he was prone to sense of humour failure....