Seated figure "nomoli" · Sierra Leone, Sherbro · ID: 3041487
Pace Gallery, New York, USA (No. 53 1063)
Description
lime stone, wreath-like headgear, dam., missing part (base), slight traces of abrasion;
such figures were found in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and on the Ivory Coast. They were used in fertility rites to grant a good rice harvest. The treatment of the “nomoli” was not affected by reference for them. If the harvest was not satisfying, it might have happened that the stone figures were whipped, sometimes until they were damaged or even destroyed.
The object Seated figure “nomoli” with the object ID 3041487 was part of the auction 84th Tribal Art Auction on November 5, 2016. The object with the lot number 125 achieved a sales price of EUR 16,000 with an asking price of EUR 5,000.
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Comparing literature
Tagliaferri, Aldo & Arno Hammacher, Die steinernen Ahnen, Graz 1974, ill. 9 f.