Dance wand "oshe shango"

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Description

wood, softly luminous middle brown patina, remains of white and red pigment, in shape of a standing female figure with double axe symbol (representing a “shango” priestess), drilled pupils (metal tags missing), slightly dam., abrasion of paint, traces of insect caused damage (backside, above all at handle and double axe), base.
For a comparable work presumably made by the same hand see Leuzinger, 1972, p. 185, L 20.
“Shango” staffs are held during processions and dances in honour of the thunder god. When not in use they are kept in large wooden or calabash bowls in the deity’s shrines, together with the thunderstones “shango” supposedly flings down from the sky,

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Expertise

Certificat d' Authenticite, Alain Dufour, Saint Maur, 12 November 1997

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Comparing literature

Leuzinger, Elsy, Die Kunst von Schwarz-Afrika, Recklinghausen 1972, p. 185, L 20

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