Magnificent Dan Maternity Figure, Côte d'Ivoire
lumè
Wood, pigment, metal, vegetable fiber
Height 25 1/2in (64.8cm)

Provenance
George-Jacques Haefeli Collection (1934-2010), Switzerland
S. Lee Ross Collection, Long Beach, California
Richard Vinatier/Galerie Origines, Arles, France
Private Collection

Literature
Tribal Arts, Autumn 2022, No. 105, 2022, p. 35 (Advertisement)

Exhibited
Paris, France, 'Parler d'art. C'est parler du monde', Parcours
des Mondes, 6-11 September 2022

Hans Himmelheber and Eberhard Fischer note, 'These wooden figures are called lu me, 'wooden person', are neither ancestor figures nor representations of spirits. They are genuine portraits as all the reports of Dan fieldworkers confirm. The subjects are usually living people, whose name the figures bear, but they may be 'pure works of art' (Donner, E., Hinterland Liberia, London, 1949, p. 80), created by sculptors because they had the urge to carve a fine figure.
According to the reports of some Dan artists, these figures are usually just the fancy of a wealthy man who, given proof of the carver's skill, commissions a portrait of his headwife, perhaps with her baby on her back. We saw examples modeled after the rival wives of the Kran chief Krai, and another portrait of a wife of a Dan chief, Kan. Generally these figures depict very individualized features of the person, rather than those found in portraits 'by designation' such as tattoo marks or hair styles. [...]

The Dan seem to have esteemed these figures primarily for their rarity. Sculptors maintain that carving a figure is a particularly demanding task, and not every man was entitled to own one. The possession of a figure was a mark of status, one which a man could only attain if he could both persuade a sculptor to carve a figure, and had sufficient means to sponsor a large feast.' (The Arts of the Dan in West Africa, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1984, pp. 117-18)

Finely carved with naturalistic proportions and details, with powerful legs, tight buttocks, slender torso with sensitively rendered breasts; the arms hanging free from the torso; the head, supported by a large, ringed cylindrical neck, with a mask-like face with narrow eyes and nose above large lips; vegetable fiber attached as hair to her head and her baby's; finely incised tattoo decoration to her chest, breast, front torso and left wrist; fine shiny black patina.
Saleroom notices:
Please note the Provenance should read:



George-Jacques Haefeli Collection (1934-2010), Switzerland
S. Lee Ross Collection, Long Beach, California
Private Collection



And Exhibition should read:



Paris, France, 'Parler d'art. C'est parler du monde', Richard Vinatier/Galerie Origines, Parcours
des Mondes, 6-11 September 2022

Break and repair to right foot; chip to lower lip; minor age distress lines throughout; nicks, scratches, abrasions and wear consistent with age. Custom stand.