Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity
Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity Pair of Ewe Terrracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures - Art for Eternity

Pair of Ewe Terracotta Ancestor Shrine Figures

10769

$3,450
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Ewe peoples, Togo (Mono River region, Togo–Benin border)

This choice and expressive pair of abstract anthropomorphic shrine vessels stands on flared disc bases, each figure rising as a hollow tubular body with paddle-like hands and feet extended before it, pointed breasts, and a frankly modeled male sex. The faces are boldly rendered with open eyes, flared nostrils, and a mouth pierced in hollowed tubular form, while the hollow heads open at the top to form the vessel mouth, encircled at the flared rim by a band of nodded, knob-like "hair". Made by Ewe potters as ancestor and Vodun altar vessels—objects that received libations and offerings in shrine use—the pair retains a richly varied surface with earthen deposits and traces of pigment attesting to genuine ritual life and age.  

A matched surviving pair of this scale is uncommon, and the figures are notably enhanced by their early publication: a closely comparable pair appears in Dmitry Olderogge's The Art of Africa: Negro Art from the Institute of Ethnography, Leningrad, with photographs by Werner Forman (Hamlyn House Press, 1969), p. 141. Provenance: private Pennsylvania collection, acquired about thirty years ago.

Size: 13-3/8 inches (34 cm) & 12-5/8 inches (32 cm) H.

Cf. also comparable pairs in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, and the Dallas Museum of Art for related African anthropomorphic terracotta vessels. Rare and expressive

Every object is guaranteed authentic and as described, and has been legally acquired and imported in accordance with U.S. and applicable foreign regulations on the movement and sale of antiquities. A signed certificate of authenticity with a description and photograph accompanies this object. Any restoration is described on the invoice.

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