Figure debout

Description

wood, matt greyish brown patina, metal ring, body of typical form and posture, coiffure draped tightly around the face with lobes on each side, incised zigzag-tattoos, drilled nostrils, slightly dam., minor missing parts (heels), cracks, plate.
A Mumuye family group, “dola”, comprises from five to fifteen enclosures. One hut is reserved for statues, “iagalagana”, and another sacred hut, “java” is occupied by an influential person who might also be endowed with magical and religious powers. This person might be a healer, a soothsayer, a rainmaker, a bringer of thunder, or a blacksmith. It seems these statues underlined the status and prestige of the wearer, helped the sick, predicted the future, attracted rainfall, or made it thunder. They also had a judicial role in a given family by confounding liars and thieves.