Maternity
Nigeria, Yoruba, Egba-Egbado area
not available anymore
Provenance
Christie’s London, 6 December 1995, lot 107Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, Munich, Germany
Zemanek-Münster Würzburg, 5. Dezember 1998, lot 41
Udo Petry, Hohnhorst, Germany
Size
H: 40 cm
H: 15.7 inch
Description
wood, shiny brown patina, black paint at the coiffure, strings with miniature glass beads, carved with a cloth wrapped around the hips, supporting a child on the back, large eyes spread with mass, incised scarification marks, shaved coiffure, slightly dam., missing parts (both foot tips, the left earlap, the latter crudely remodelled with blackish mass), fissures, metal base;
depictions of mother and child and bowl-carrying women were used for offering cola nuts. They served as shrine figures for keeping sacrificial offerings and as receptacles for keeping palm nuts used for soothsaying sessions.