LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 June African & Oceanic Art Auction #645  / 

48126

Yoruba, Rare Table-form Altar w/ Human Supports

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Ethnographic Start Price:17,500.00 USD Estimated At:35,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
Yoruba, Rare Table-form Altar w/ Human Supports
<B>Yoruba (Nigeria)</B></I><BR>Rare Table-form Altar with Human Figure Supports<BR>Wood, pigment, metal, beads<BR>Length: 28 inches<BR><BR>A plank carved from a single piece of wood with a scalloped border around its rounded rectangular edge forms the altar top, supported by eight elongated, outward facing, finely carved standing human figures, five females and three males, each about seventeen inches in height. Four females hold their large breasts in a gesture of nurture and support. A fifth has a child at her back, while two males play different types of drums and a third holds a double calabash, probably intended to be a rattle. All figures have anklets, wristlets, or necklaces added, of chain, glass or shell beads, or cowries. There are evident remains of polychrome pigments on the figures, as on the table above. <BR><BR>This old, unusual, and heavily used work relates to four extraordinary figures formerly in the deGrunne Collection and published in the Sotheby's Sale #7473, May 2000 (lots 21-24). Several of our eight figures may be by the same hand as those of the deGrunne examples, or if not, most certainly from the same workshop, and probably the deGrunne figures (with no table) had a similar function.<BR><BR>Provenance: H. Bruce Greene II and family, Naples, Florida<BR><BR><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Requires 3rd Party Shipping (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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