Figural group ·  Nigeria, Anago/Yoruba · ID: 3035384

Description

wood, polychrome paint, encrusted with clay, rectangular platform with deepenings for mortising thirteen figures, three ceremonial parasols, three snake-like sculptures, a small quadruped and a kind of tree ladder, the figures show great variety in design: bearded dignitaries in the last row, kneeling female bowl-bearing figures inbetween, figures standing in upright posture holding axes in front of the body, the most important persons placed in the centre, a whitened figure with hat, flanked by a blackened female figure, both seated on stools, two recesses and a figural torso at the front rim, slightly dam., missing parts, cracks, paint rubbed off;
depictions of such numerous figures are quite rare. The ensemble was probably meant as a status symbol of a chief or dignitary and was displayed in the reception chambers.

Comparing literature

Witte, Hans, A Closer Look, Berg en Dal 2004, p. 68 f.