wood, reddish brown patina, traces of black paint, a high towering figure, rising from bent legs, with both hands resting on the breast, crowned by a broad face with tapering chin and a sun-helmet-like head crest, small drilled holes at the back and between the legs for insertion of magical substances, slightly dam., crack (head crest, face and body right hand side), block-like base;
presumably a magical figure "mvunzi", who protects humans against certain evil spirits. The main fortuneteller usually possesses such "mvunzi", who employs them in cases of sickness, for theft or for the hunt. In many cases, for example with theft, a "mvunzi" possesses not only a protective function, but also an offensive character by acting against the evil spirit and imposing on it an even greater evil.
H: 61 cm, H: 24,0 inch
Provenance:
Peter Loebarth, Hameln, Germany
Belgian Private Collection
Vera und Wolfgang Nerlich, Munich, Germany
Lit.: Neyt, Francois, Die Kunst der Holo, München 1982, p. 15 f.
Continent: Africa

See description