Standing female figure ·  Sierra Leone, Mende · ID: 3037015

Description

light wood, greyish brown patina with traces of black paint, rising from columnar legs, opening (cryptofetish), drilled holes in the area of the lower part of the body, iron ring around the hips, the broad body crowned by a proportionally small egg-shaped head without eyes, dam., cracks (partly filled with wooden splinters), missing parts (both foot tips), dam., chips, abrasion, base;
the rare figures of the Mende are always of female gender and they are called “minsereh”. In service of the “yassi” society they mediate between humans and spirits and were consulted for oracle.

The object Standing female figure with the object ID 3037015 was last part of the auction 77th tribal art auction at June 28, 2014 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 124.

You can find more Figures and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.