Single-Legged Middle Benue Shrine Figure

Powerful, primitive form carved from dense, heavy wood. The body’s curvature indicates that the object was likely leaned against the wall of a shrine for decades. Figures like this were carved by itinerant or amateur carvers, not sculptors, and thus reflect a personal style rather than a developed ethnic one, making them difficult to identify. Though the ethnic origin of the piece is undetermined (suggestions welcome), the figure was part of a cache of African wood carvings found in the rear of a Manhattan warehouse locker, where all the objects were wrapped in newspaper dated June 16, 1974. Other items in these boxes were similarly from southern Nigeria, areas caught up in the Biafran Civil War, 1967-1970. Ex Sidney and Gae Berman.

31.5″

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