Early shrine figure "ikenga", 19th century · Nigeria, Igbo · ID: 3046014

Name: Early shrine figure "ikenga", 19th century
SKU: 3046014
Price: 4000 EUR
Availability: SoldOut

sold EUR 4,000

Provenance

British Collection
German Private Collection
Dorotheum, Vienna, 4 December 2018, Lot 81

Size

H: 66 cm

H: 26.0 inch

Description

wood, encrusted patina, pigments, sacrificial traces, rest., base

“Ikenga”, which means “place of strength”, are storage containers for the “chi”, the life energy of a person.

A striking and rare detail of this figure are the carved heads arranged in a ring around the head of the “ikenga, in which the power of the ancestors seems to be bundled. A comparable figure can be found at the African Heritage Documentation & Research Centre (AHDRC 0093427).

The object Early shrine figure “ikenga”, 19th century with the object ID 3046014 was last part of the auction 93rd Tribal Art Auction at November 16, 2019 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 197 achieved a sales price of EUR 4,000.

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