Female shrine figure "alusi" · Nigeria, Igbo, Abiriba Master · ID: 3053444
Anne Kerchache, Paris, France
Christie’s, Paris, France, 29 October 2008, lot 180
Ana & Antonio Casanovas, Madrid, Spain (2008)
Bernard de Grunne, Brussels, Belgium
Huf, Wiesbaden, Germany
Lempertz, Brussels, Belgium, 31 March 2012, lot 67
Artcurial, Paris, France, 7 June 2016, lot 60
German Private Collection
Arno Henseler, Munich, Germany
Description
wood, pigments, base
According to Casanovas and de Grunne, this work is attributed to the Abiriba Master of eastern Igboland and was probably originally made for a men’s house near Abiriba.
In some regions, such figures were displayed publicly once a year, repainted or dressed anew, and given offerings of kola nuts, lime and liquids. Animals were occasionally sacrificed; their meat, known as “chaff”, was served as a communal feast, while the blood was offered to the protective deities.
Publications
de Grunne, Bernard, Ana & Antonio Casanovas, Igbo, Brussels 2010, cover + p. 70 f.; Schumacher, Ulrich & Rouven Lotz, Schumacher - Afrika, Hagen 2011, p. 83; Tribal Art Magazine, Summer 2016 (80), p. 24
AHDRC: 0093702
Exhibition
Maastricht, The Netherlands, TEFAF; The European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht, MECC-Maastrichts Expositie & Congres Centrum, 12-21 March 2010; Hagen, Germany, Emil Schumacher Museum, 2011/12