Description

A pair of small terracotta heads. Probably before 400 AD, Falasha, (Beta Israel), Ethiopia. H 8cm, with bulging eyes, elaborate hairstyle, especially on the lady, with parallel plaits and traces of archaeological material. The Falasha, the Black Jews , are a small ethnic group in Ethiopia practicing a pre-Talmudic Jewish faith (the Mishnah and Talmud are unknown to them); their name probably comes from the Ethiopian verb fåläsä, meaning to emigrate. Most of them, who lived west, north and east of Lake Tana, were flown out to Israel after the civil war. The Falasha are probably not ethnic Jews, but part of the early Agau population who were converted to Judaism by Yemenite Jews. There were also Sabaean peoples from southern Arabia who migrated to Ethiopia, displacing or absorbing the Agau, and who were active between the 3rd and 7th centuries CE. It is therefore not surprising that the Falasha artistic style, expressed in small terracotta heads and figures, is not dissimilar to the early sculptures of the Arabian Peninsula; a head discovered from the Aksumite period, perhaps used as a stopper for an amphora, also shows exactly this style. Similar heads are illustrated in: K.-F. Schaedler, Erde und Erz (1997) no. 599, p.30 and in his Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture (2009), p. 220. intact. Provenance: Ex Galerie Dogon, Monika Edelmaier, Berlin.

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A pair of small terracotta heads. Probably before 400 AD, Falasha, (Beta Israel), Ethiopia. H 8cm, with bulging eyes, elaborate hairstyle, especially on the lady, with parallel plaits and traces of archaeological material. The Falasha, the Black Jews , are a small ethnic group in Ethiopia practicing a pre-Talmudic Jewish faith (the Mishnah and Talmud are unknown to them); their name probably comes from the Ethiopian verb fåläsä, meaning to emigrate. Most of them, who lived west, north and east of Lake Tana, were flown out to Israel after the civil war. The Falasha are probably not ethnic Jews, but part of the early Agau population who were converted to Judaism by Yemenite Jews. There were also Sabaean peoples from southern Arabia who migrated to Ethiopia, displacing or absorbing the Agau, and who were active between the 3rd and 7th centuries CE. It is therefore not surprising that the Falasha artistic style, expressed in small terracotta heads and figures, is not dissimilar to the early sculptures of the Arabian Peninsula; a head discovered from the Aksumite period, perhaps used as a stopper for an amphora, also shows exactly this style. Similar heads are illustrated in: K.-F. Schaedler, Erde und Erz (1997) no. 599, p.30 and in his Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture (2009), p. 220. intact. Provenance: Ex Galerie Dogon, Monika Edelmaier, Berlin.

Estimate 640 - 800 EUR
Starting price 640 EUR

* Not including buyer’s premium.
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For sale on Tuesday 16 Jul : 14:00 (CEST)
munich, Germany
Gorny & Mosch
+4989.242.264.30
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