Figural terracotta vessel · Nigeria / Cameroon, Mambila or Mfumte · ID: 3047145
sold
EUR 400
Provenance
Nell Bernard (*1935), Copenhagen, Denmark
Nell Bernard, née Nell Benedicte Jacobsen, is a Danish artist who has worked in sculpture, ceramics and as a graphic artist. She is the daughter of the internationally renowned Danish artist Robert Jacobsen.
Size
H: 22,5 cm
H: 8.9 inch
Description
with closed opening at the rear,
Women of the Mambila produced such vessels for the male secret society “wankya”. They were periodically used to pour libations of palm wine onto a road in a ritual intended to protect a community against witchcraft.
Comparing literature
Berzock, Kathleen Bickford, For hearth and altar, Chicago 2006, p. 139, ill. 84