Staff figure "kundul" · Nigeria, Wurkun · ID: 3048946
not available anymore
Provenance
Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, 6 May 1978, Lot 353Size
H: 40,5 cm
H: 15.9 inch
Description
wood, red pigment, encrusted patina, rest., base
“Kundul” figures almost always appear in male/ female pairs, mounted on iron spikes, enabling the sculpture to be stuck in the ground.
They were used as protection and in divination. They were frequently washed with liquid clay, “fed” with offerings of millet beer or millet porridge and rubbed with oil which explains the thickness of the patina.
Comparing literature
Lebas, Alain (ed.), Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections, Milan 2012, p. 286
Publications
AHDRC: 0101062