Anthropomorphic figure "iagalagana", before 1969 · Nigeria, Mumuye · ID: 3043991
German Private Collection
Description
wood, base
A Mumuye family group, “dola”, comprises from five to fifteen enclosures. One hut is reserved for statues, “iagalagana”, and another sacred hut, “java” is occupied by an influential person who might also be endowed with magical and religious powers. This person might be a healer, a soothsayer, a rainmaker, a bringer of thunder, or a blacksmith. It seems these statues underlined the status and prestige of the wearer, helped the sick, predicted the future, attracted rainfall, or made it thunder. They also had a judicial role in a given family by confounding liars and thieves.
The object Anthropomorphic figure “iagalagana”, before 1969 with the object ID 3043991 was last part of the auction 89th Tribal Art Auction at July 7, 2018 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 296 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,000.
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Publications
AHDRC: 0153710