Description
Made for a large altar honoring ancestors, this figure’s crusty surface resulted from repeated ritual applications of sacrificial materials including animal blood, millet porridge, plant juice, and oil, infusing it with a vital energy. Its braided hairstyle, thin beard, amulet-pendant, and ritual staff (on his left shoulder) suggest that this figure portrays a high-ranking man. The extremely dry environment of the cave where it was stored helped to preserve it.
Provenance
The Schanté Collection, Paris, by the 1960s [according to personal communication with Denyse Ginzberg dated Feb. 21, 2014, in curatorial file; object information from L & R Entwistle Gallery, 1996]. Gaston T. de Havenon (died 1993), The de Havenon Collection, New York, N.Y., by 1971 to 1975 [see Museum of African Art, 1971]; sold to Marc and Denyse Ginzberg, New York, N.Y., 1975 [according to personal communication with Denyse Ginzberg dated Feb. 21, 2014, in curatorial file]; consigned to Lance Entwistle, L & R Entwistle Gallery, London, 1996; sold to the Art Institute, 1996.
Accession Number
144353
Medium
Wood, pigment, and sacrificial material
Dimensions
99.7 × 15.6 × 16.6 cm (39 1/4 × 6 1/8 × 6 1/2 in.)
Classification
sculpture
Credit Line
Janie Brill Memorial Fund; Major Acquisitions Centennial Endowment
