Mumuye Lagalagana ancestor figure - SOLD OUT
Mumuye statues and masks appeared very late on the African art market. In question, a region of difficult access to the south of the Bénué river, in Nigeria, and a weak diffusion of their artistic production. Thanks to this, the Mumuye have preserved their ancestral traditions from the push of Islam following the Fulani and Hausa invasions.
This statue bearing the generic name of Lagalagana or Lagana represents an ancestor guardian of the well-being of individuals and protector of family homes. This African figure was kept in a sacred box belonging to an influential person, a healer or a diviner.
Figures Mumuye Lagalagana has a very distinctive stylization. An expressive and usually quite childish head with long ears is supported by drooping shoulders. The trunk is slender and cylindrical, the navel sometimes highlighted. The hips, similar to the shoulders, rest on small, zigzag-shaped, powerful legs. As for the arms, they are treated in a helical fashion. Here, the ears are openwork, which would make it a female character.
Originally, their artistic corpus was attributed to neighboring Chamba before being considered as a group in its own right. Mumuye art is somewhat similar to that of Wurkum and Chamba.
00975
Data sheet
- Presumed dating
- 2nd half XXth
- Size
- 90 cm
- Ethnic group
- Material(s)
- Wood
- Country
- Origin
- Tribal art collection Belgium
- Condition
- Vintage
Mumuye statues and masks appeared very late on the African art market. In question, a region of difficult access to the south of the Bénué river, in Nigeria, and a weak diffusion of their artistic production. Thanks to this, the Mumuye have preserved their ancestral traditions from the push of Islam following the Fulani and Hausa invasions.
This statue bearing the generic name of Lagalagana or Lagana represents an ancestor guardian of the well-being of individuals and protector of family homes. This African figure was kept in a sacred box belonging to an influential person, a healer or a diviner.
Figures Mumuye Lagalagana has a very distinctive stylization. An expressive and usually quite childish head with long ears is supported by drooping shoulders. The trunk is slender and cylindrical, the navel sometimes highlighted. The hips, similar to the shoulders, rest on small, zigzag-shaped, powerful legs. As for the arms, they are treated in a helical fashion. Here, the ears are openwork, which would make it a female character.
Originally, their artistic corpus was attributed to neighboring Chamba before being considered as a group in its own right. Mumuye art is somewhat similar to that of Wurkum and Chamba.