Standing anthropomorphic figure
Description
wood, soaked fabric, feathers, animal claws, seed capsules, base
The body and facial features of the present figure are anthropomorphic in shape. The free carved forearms could once have held a bowl.
Claessens depicts a comparable anthropomorphic figure, albeit carved with a bowl (Claessens, 2016, p. 137, fig. 91).
Claessens surmises that anthropomorphic bowl-bearers could have served a similar purpose to the monkey figurines called “amuin ba”. At the very least, their blood patina would identify them as “amuin” (“amwin”), as “objects of power”. According to Claessens, the great rarity of the anthropomorphic bowl-bearers may suggest their being the local product of a cult that did not spread (Claessens, 2016, p. 136).
Bowl-bearing monkey figures “amuin ba” were used by initiation societies that only admitted men, for example in connection with agrarian rites or a form of divination known as “mbra”.