Description
Abstract ancestor figure. Dagara, Berkina Faso. H 66cm, rough, probably carved from a branch. The Dagara (Dagaba, Dagarti, Dagari) belong to the Voltaic ethnic group; they speak Dagara, a Gur language, and number around one million people. Their homeland is in the north-western region of Ghana and in the south-western region of Burkina Faso, but also in a small part of the Ivory Coast. Their neighbors are the Sisala in the northeast, the Lobi in the west and the Birifor in the south. It was not until the early 1990s that their phallic, abstract ancestor figures became known overseas. They are always set up in a specific place where they receive libations, but only initiates are allowed to see them. With gray-black, partially encrusted sacrificial patina, lower part of the right leg apparently broken off, otherwise intact. Provenance: From the southern German art trade.
453
Abstract ancestor figure. Dagara, Berkina Faso. H 66cm, rough, probably carved from a branch. The Dagara (Dagaba, Dagarti, Dagari) belong to the Voltaic ethnic group; they speak Dagara, a Gur language, and number around one million people. Their homeland is in the north-western region of Ghana and in the south-western region of Burkina Faso, but also in a small part of the Ivory Coast. Their neighbors are the Sisala in the northeast, the Lobi in the west and the Birifor in the south. It was not until the early 1990s that their phallic, abstract ancestor figures became known overseas. They are always set up in a specific place where they receive libations, but only initiates are allowed to see them. With gray-black, partially encrusted sacrificial patina, lower part of the right leg apparently broken off, otherwise intact. Provenance: From the southern German art trade.
You may also like
