Impressive maternity sculpture - Lot 49

Impressive maternity sculpture Urhobo culture, southern Nigeria Eroded wood, traces of original polychromy H. 172 cm Provenance: Roger Azar Collection, Paris - Roger Azar Collection, Paris - Private collection, Paris (acquired 2002) Publications and exhibitions: - François Neyt et alii, Nixeria, Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela,1995, no. 51 - Alain Lebas et alii, Arts du Nigeria dans les collections privées françaises, Musée de la civilisation, Québec, 2012, no. 35 Between land and water, the Urhobo occupy the western part of the Niger delta. Transfuges of Igbo, Ijaw and Bini populations, they organized themselves into independent village communities, governed by the moral and religious authority of a dignitary or ovie. Unified by the Edo language and common cultural practices, they never developed a centralized political organization. Ancestors were worshipped in small shrines, where their effigies, arranged in families, were consulted and honored. The impressive maternity of the Azar collection has all the characteristics of the great classical Urhobo style. The power and wealth of this breast-feeding woman, undoubtedly a queen mother, can be measured by her haughty expression, the importance of her headdress and the number of jewels with which she is adorned.