Ancestor figure
Description
wood, greyish brown patina, kaolin, massive shoulders, proportionally small head, coiffure in two flat lobes, fragmentary legs, min. dam., missing parts (legs), cracks, slight traces of abrasion, base;
Mumuye effigies have several functions. They reinforce the traditional power of the Elders and grant a priviledged status to the family group who possesses them. The first function of these sculptures is to watch over the family enclosure and to protect its inhabitants as well as guests who are allowed to enter there. The effigy, through the intermediary of the soothsayer or healer, intervenes in healing practises in times of sicknesses or epidemics. In this case, the soothsayer sits cross-legged at the foot of the statue, and questions it on the subject at hand. To hear the effigy respond, the sooothsayer covers the face of the statue with the sap of a plant. In the family context, they may also exercise a judicial function: the statue honors truth and frustrates the traps set by a liar or a thief.