Seated male figure · Nigeria, Igbo · ID: 3042220
sold
EUR 1,100
Provenance
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA (Inventory No. 75.109)Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 18 October 2014, lot 306
Size
H: 104 cm
H: 40.9 inch
Description
wood, partly encrusted patina, remains of polychrome paint, with prominent forehead crest, scarification marks on body and face, rep. (missing part/shoulder), cracks, insect caused damage, traces of abrasion;
most of the Igbo figures were created to address community concerns, and most were collectively owned, if sometimes by lineages on behalf of a larger group. Most figural sculptures were housed in shrines dedicated to tutelary deities heading public cults and associated with parts of the natural world such as rivers, forests, the earth, or with days of the week and the markets held on them.
Comparing literature
Cole, Herbert M. & Chike C. Aniakor, Chike, Igbo Arts, Los Angeles 1984, p. 92, ill. 170