COUPLE YAO (?), MALAWI-TANZANIE

Lot 17
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Estimation :
50000 - 80000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 54 640EUR
COUPLE YAO (?), MALAWI-TANZANIE
Ɵ YAO COUPLE (?), MALAWI-TANZANIA Wood with brown patina, metal, beads H. 70 and 73.8 cm YAO COUPLE (?), MALAWI-TANZANIA H. 27 1/2 in and 28 3/4 in Provenance: - The male statue comes from the Arman collection - Private collection Publication (for the male statue): - African Faces, African Figures: The Arman Collection, Museum for African Art, New York, 1997, n°176 - Arman l'Africain, Galerie Bernard Dulon, Paris, 2002, n°23 Exhibition (for the male statue) : - Arman & l'art africain, Marseille, Musée d'arts africains, océaniens, amérindiens, Chapelle de la Vieille Charité, June 23-October 30, 1996 Paris, Musée National des arts d Afrique et d Océanie, December 3, 1996-February 17, 1997 Cologne, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Museum für Völkerkunde, March-June 1997 - Arman l'Africain, Galerie Bernard Dulon, Paris, September 19-October 31, 2002 The Yao are a Bantu people from Southern Africa. Coming from the North, they migrated to southern Malawi at the end of the 19th century. Their main activity was the slave trade and, because of their repeated contact with the coastal populations of Mozambique, they converted to Islam very early on. The sculptures of the Yao of Malawi are among the least documented on the African continent, probably because of their great rarity and their very early collection dates. Nevertheless, they seem to be related to the different degrees of initiation of young people - lupanda for boys and unhango for girls - whose ceremonies took place at the decision of the community chief. Our couple nevertheless presents cultural characteristics specific to the Yao populations: numerous jewels adorn the wings of the nose and the lips, the demarcation line of the hairstyle joins the two ears in a vertical plane. The two statues forming a couple have elongated and powerful torsos supported by legs with visible musculature. They are decorated with numerous scarifications, as are their backs. The arms are elongated, the fingers indicated. The heads with realistic faces are supported by thick necks. The mouths open in a scream, revealing teeth cut into points. The upper lips and nostrils are decorated with labrets and implants. It is worth noting that the ears have deep cavities, probably intended, in their tribal context, to receive a magical charge.
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