Description: Welcome To The Premier Place For Serious Collectors of Fine Authentic African Tribal Art Over 10 Years Online Serving Thousands of Satisfied Customers Offering the Finest Quality Sub-Saharan African Art Superb African Nigeria Mumuye Iagalagana Figure Sculpture Inches: Height: 28 Inches Centimeters: Height: 71 Centimeters Measurements Sculpture Only Material: Wood Estimated Age: Early 20th Century Condition: Fair - Good Remarks: Highly stylized sculpture distinctive simplified features protective power aged surface INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS WELCOME Custom Base Included Documentation of Authenticity / Any Available Provenance Will Be Included With This Piece. CONDITIONWood deterioration especially to legs, age cracks, chips and scrapes, worn area, overall condition fair to good. Thank you and please view my other items. BACKGROUND The Mumuye people live in northeastern Nigeria, on the left bank of the Benue River. They cultivate sorghum, millet, and yams. Due to the difficulty of access to their lands of rocky hills and savannas, the Mumuye remained in near total isolation until the end of 1950th. Few were known about them before the 1960s. Mumuye artists are famous for their unusual wooden statues discovered only in 1968. The wooden statues came to be known as Iagalagana. These figures vary from 30cm to 160cm in height and display elongated features and exaggerated ear lobes. Carved by blacksmiths or weavers, they are kept in a separate hut located on a family compound, and are entrusted to the family member who has magical powers. Even though the Mumuye show great respect for the ancestors, their statuary does not depict ancestors but rather incarnates tutelary spirits. These statues were used by both diviners and healers, whose professions included diagnosis and cure of ill health and other kinds of misfortune. The figures were used to greet rainmaker’s clients, guard the house, and as the owner’s confidant. They are also used in trials when men in dispute swear on the statue, which they must kiss. Elders used them to reinforce their status in society. It was not unusual for a figure simultaneously to serve two or more functions. Painter Fred Uhlman words - Most of the artists I admired, Picasso, Modigliani, Deraini, to mention only a few, had collected African art and had been profoundly influenced by it. Shortly afterwards I bought the Baule Fetish and the Baule bobbin which are still two of the finest pieces in my collection. It is easy to see why I bought them and why from that moment I have never stopped collecting. The head of the bobbin or heddle - pulley which is after all only a functional object for the purpose of weaving seemed to me then and today as beautiful as a Greek goddess. The fetish moved me as deeply as the bobbin by its silent tragic dignity and its air of profound meditation. GUARANTEE AUTHENTICITY AND CONDITION OF ITEMS ARE GUARANTEED TO THEIR DESCRIPTION AND PICTURES. QUESTIONS PLEASE EMAIL WITH ANY QUESTIONS, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, OR MORE DETAIL PICTURES. SHIPPING SHIPPING VIA USPS PARCEL POST OR FEDEX GROUND UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. OTHER SHIPPING OPTIONS AVAILABLE. INTERNATIONAL VIA USPS PRIORITY MAIL -SHIPPING COST PLEASE INQUIRE. COMBINED SHIPPING: SHIPPING IS ALWAYS COMBINED WHEN POSSIBLE, UNLESS THE PIECE IS TOO LARGE OR DELICATE. SHIPPING TIME: ITEM(S) ARE CAREFULLY PACKAGED AND SHIPPED OUT WITHIN 10 DAYS OF PAYMENT. PACKING FRAGILE ART ITEM NEEDS CAREFUL ATTENTION AND WILL NEVER BE FAST, BUT WE DO OUT BEST TO MAKE SURE IT WILL ARRIVE FOR YOU SAFELY. IF YOU NEED THE ITEM QUICKLY PLEASE EMAIL FIRST FOR ARRANGEMENT. PAYMENT PAYMENT ACCEPTED - PAYPAL.
Price: 850 USD
Location: Huntersville, North Carolina
End Time: 2024-02-07T07:44:18.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
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