Fragment of an archaic statue - Lot 52

Fragment of an archaic statue Jukun culture, Nigeria Wood with old sacrificial patina 19th century or earlier (Ciram C14 test) H. 52 cm Provenance : - Private collection, Paris The Jukun people settled along the Middle Benue and its tributary, the Taraba River, as early as the 14th century. Here, society was organized into large, extended family groups living on vast estates and structured by a strict gerontocracy. Each family had its own sanctuary for ancestor worship. Large sculptures of the head of the lineage and his wife or wives took pride of place, sometimes surrounded by representations of servants. During important mourning ceremonies or those related to soil fertility, they were publicly presented and carried in procession. Very few examples of the great archaic Jukun statuary are known today, although a specimen entered the British Museum's collections in 1909, and was surprisingly long considered to come from the Ashanti of Ghana (gift Dr. Parsons, inv. 1909.2-19.1).