MAKONDE INITIATION FIGURE

MOZAMBIQUE

African & Oceanic Art and Antiquities | 556

Auction: 1 May 2019 at 12:00 BST

Estimate: £4,000 - £6,000

Description

carved wood, shown standing, with one hand raised to the midriff holding a pipe and the other clutching the genitals, the mouth slightly agape

Dimensions

63cm high

Footnote

Provenance:

Kevin Conru, Brussels
Bernice and Terence Pethica Collection

Published:

Klopper, Nettleton and Pethica, The Art of Southern Africa, The Terence Pethica Collection, 2007, p. 120-121, n° 49

Note:

"The initiation of both men and women in southern Africa often involved the use of wooden figures. Much of this instruction centred on sexual norms and behaviour and so many of the figures had explicit genitals. This figure is one of these instruction models, but its style is difficult to place. The treatment of the face (especially the protruding ears) and the gestures suggest it is Makonde." (Klopper, Nettleton and Pethica 2007).