Ɵ Mende female statue, Sierra Leone
Wood with black patina
H. 67 cm
Mende female figure, Sierra Leone
H. 26 3/8 in
Provenance:
- Hélène and Philippe Leloup, Paris
- Private collection
Publication:
- Luc De Heusch, et al, Utotombo: Kunst uit Zwart-Afrika in Belgisch Privé-Bezit. Brussels, Palais des Beaux Arts, 1988, p. 141, no. 42.
Exhibition:
- Utotombo - L'Art de l'Afrique Noire dans les Collections Privées Belges, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 25 March - 5 June 1988
This large and elegant standing female statue, with its hands on its abdomen, is full of roundness and delicacy in its smallest details. The bun hairstyle is particularly fine and elaborate, a high forehead dominates a small and delicate face on a ringed neck. A long pearl necklace falls between the heavy breasts marked by horizontal scarification. The abdomen is barred by two long horizontal scarifications. A wide belt of beads rests on the loins and two anklets mark the bottom of the legs.
The statue is covered with a black patina, brown at the points of wear, and smooth typical of this region for healing or divination rites. Most of the time, these statues highlight the full forms of the excised youth.
Ɵ This lot is in temporary import
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