Pair of figures · Tanzania, Ngoni · ID: 3040496
Manfred Sackmann, Berlin, Germany
Description
wood, reddish brown and black patina, strings with miniature glass beads, leather belt, identical formed bodies, coiffures from clay-like mass with remains of human hair, eyes with inlay, ears with drilled holes for insertion of magical loading, the female carrying a child on the back, slightly dam., abrasion of paint, rep. (both wrists of the male/left foot tip of the female figure), base;
depicting a couple of mythical or real ancestors. They were kept in the house of the clan leader or in small shrines, where they received sacrifices to keep them well-disposed.
The Ngoni cluster are mixed descendants of Zulu bands that fled from Natal around 1820 to escape from the rule of King Shaka.
The object Pair of figures with the object ID 3040496 was last part of the auction 83rd Tribal Art Auction at May 28, 2016 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 512.
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Publications
Albert-König-Museum (ed.), Afrikanische Kunst, Sammlung Robert Lewitzki, Unterlüß, 2001, p. 7, ill. 1
Exhibition
Afrikanische Kunst, Sammlung Robert Lewitzki, Albert-König-Museum, Unterlüß 11. März -16. April 2001