Small female stone figure "nomoli" · Sierra Leone, Kissi · ID: 3041896
not available anymore
Provenance
Jo de Buck, Brussels, BelgiumAmerican Collection
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 19 June 2010, lot 159
Size
H: 12 cm
H: 4.7 inch
Description
limestone, kneeling, with both hands up to her breasts, the oval head marked by a broad teeth-revealing mouth and grooved coiffure, min. dam., 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.
Comparing literature
Meneghini, Mario, Collecting African Art in Liberia and Neighboring Countries 1963 - 1989, o.O. 2006, p. 140
Publications
AHDRC: 0139705