"Tanzania, Nyamwezi People, Mid 20th Century, Ancient Protective Fetish With Shiny Patina"
Ancient anthropomorphic protective fetish with shiny patina
Tanzania, Nyamwezi people
Mid-20th century
The statuette represents a filiform female character with a hieratic appearance, standing on long legs with atrophied feet and resting on a small triangular base. The slender body has a small chest materialized by two circles in slight relief, a small umbilicus with the same aesthetic, the sex signified by a notch. Arms bent, detached from the body, palms facing outward in warning. A cylindrical neck receives a head with a face with a severe expression, a fine notch delimiting the hairstyle. The almond-shaped eyes encrusted with mother-of-pearl, the semi-circular eyebrow arches meeting at the base of a small nose overhanging a thin half-open mouth.
Wood, mother-of-pearl
Old split on left leg, shiny patina
8.5 x 18.3 cm without stand
Private collection
Le Magazine de PROANTIC
TRÉSORS Magazine
Rivista Artiquariato