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Very Fine African Tanzania Fipa Maternity Figure
Measurement:
Height: 25 Width: 7 Depth: 10 Inches
Measurement:
Height: 63.5 Width: 18 Depth: 25.5 Centimeters
Measurement Statue Only
Material:
Wood
Estimated Age:
Early 20th Century
Condition:
Very Good
Remarks:
Highly stylized figure simple lines dense wood brown patina
Shipping:
US East Coast - Estimated $45.00
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Documentation of Authenticity / Provenance Will Be Included With This Piece
CONDITIONMinor wood deterioration especially, age cracks, chips and scrapes, overall condition very good. Thank you and please view my other items.
BACKGROUND
Historically, the Fipa lived on a largely treeless plateau looking down on Lake Tanganyika, appearing as a bridge joining east to central Africa and the Congo. They were a mixed population – Fipa, Wanda, and Nyika – with roughly 20,000 people in the 1890s. Many had come from the Congo, with chiefdoms dominating a number of clans. Since iron was a precious commodity, and iron smelting required technical knowledge, it was jealously guarded, resulting in a number of clans being subject to ironsmiths. The central chiefdom, Milansi ("the eternal village"), was headed by a dynasty of ironsmiths, which exchanged its products for woven cloth. These clans and dynasties were later taken over by an even newer immigrant group, the Twa, possibly the Tutsi from the north, who were organized as a single clan and dominated others by force and cunning. While the Twa established themselves as an aristocracy, the older Milansi dynasty retained ritual power and the right to install the Twa chief. It was, however, the Twa (after splitting into two chiefdoms) who exercised territorial and administrative authority through their appointed officials, with orders then transmitted to elected village headmen. The Fipa had now finally become more stratified, had even more precise borders, and were governed in a more strictly supervised manner. It had become a real state. The Fipa are neighbors of the Tabwa, Rungu, Nyamwezi, and other art-producing peoples of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Tanganyika region. These peoples share the same masking tradition and their styles of masks are very similar. Very little is known about the Fipa and their art. Often, masks such as this were worn on the face and danced in various festivals such as the birth of twins, the fertility rites, the funerals of important members of the society.
Painter Fred Uhlman words - Most of the artists I admired, Picasso, Modigliani, Deraini, to mention only a few, had collected African art and had been profoundly influenced by it. Shortly afterwards I bought the Baule Fetish and the Baule bobbin which are still two of the finest pieces in my collection. It is easy to see why I bought them and why from that moment I have never stopped collecting. The head of the bobbin or heddle - pulley which is after all only a functional object for the purpose of weaving seemed to me then and today as beautiful as a Greek goddess. The fetish moved me as deeply as the bobbin by its silent tragic dignity and its air of profound meditation.
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