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

48306

Zulu (South Africa)Four Staffs1. Wood

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Ethnographic Start Price:750.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Zulu (South Africa)Four Staffs1. Wood
<B>Zulu (South Africa)</B></I><BR>Four Staffs<BR>1. Wood<BR>Height: 39 ¼ inches Width: 1 ¾ inches<BR>2. Wood<BR>Height: 40 ¾ inches Width: 3 inches<BR>3. Wood, brass wire, steel tip<BR>Height: 40 ¾ inches Width: 1 ½ inches<BR>4. Wood<BR>Height: 43 ¼ inches Width: 1 ¾ inches<BR><BR>Staffs of fine wood with sculptural adornment “would have been carried by nyangas or sangomas, the ritual healers in the society, and were purported to be divining rods. Whether this was indeed the case is difficult to tell. . . . the ritual healers . . . were (and are) the custodians of ancestral knowledge, and today, of information that has passed out of common knowledge” (Karel Nel in Sandra Klopper and Karel Nel. The Art of Southeast Africa from the Conru Collection. Milan: 5 Continents, 2002, p. 31). The figure on staff number 1 has a close stylistic kinship with a notable staff finial of a mother and child attributed as “probably Tsonga” (Ibid., p. 58, no. 5). The second staff shows two serpents twined around the shaft with their upward-facing heads near a knobbed finial. The third combines braided metal wrapping with a series of knobs at top. The fourth is topped by a satirical portrait of a seated, mustached European in tail coat who plays a concertina. Conditions of the staffs vary.<BR><BR>Provenance: Gary Hendershott, Little Rock<BR> Nos. 1 & 2: Sotheby's Paris, Sale PF 3015, 5 Décembre 2003, p. 157,Lot 205 a & b<BR> Nos. 1 & 2:Peter Schnell<BR> No. 1: Sydney Michael, London, 1957<BR>No. 2: H. F. North, London, 1957<BR>Nos. 3 & 4: Sotheby's Paris, Sale PF 3015, 5 Décembre 2003, p. 23, Lot 32 a & c<BR><BR><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Large Collectibles (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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