Female figure ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Atié · ID: 3041260

Description

wood, brown patina, dignified upright posture, extremely long neck, disc-shaped flattened coiffure with four horn-like projecting lobes, min. dam., cracks, slight traces of abrasion, on wooden base;
figures like the present represent spirits or ancestors and were most likely used in a rite called “logbu”. But only few is known, because within the short period of time from 1910 up to 1930 they got out of usage. In 1914 the famous liberian prophet William Harris reached the Ivory Coast and his burning speeches affected whole tribes to abandon their statues and old rites. As a consequence of this a great number of statues from the laguna region were destroyed and only a few examples survived in museums or private collections.

Littérature comparée

Phillips, Tom (Hg.), Afrika, Die Kunst eines Kontinents, Berlin 1996, p. 448