A FINE AND RARE FON MALE ALLEGORICAL FIGURE

细节

A FINE AND RARE FON MALE ALLEGORICAL FIGURE

On a circular base with twisted design, left foot held forward, polychrome painted tunic around waist, belt with small pouches at the front, larger container affixed at left side, metal band attached around waist, metal plate nailed in at back, shoulder straps, the arms articulated, right arm held upwards, left extended forward, the hands in gripped position, the face with thick beard, moustache and side whiskers, large protruding oval eyes, circular pierced pupils, coiffure a series of rounded ridges, the entire figure painted black with orange and white pigments on belt, tunic and base.
50in. high (127cm.)

来源

Sadruddin Aga Khan, Geneva
Sotheby's London, 1983, no. 15

出版

Savery, 1978, pp. 38-39, no. 17
Sotheby's London, 1983, no. 15

展览

Geneva, Musé d'Ethnologie, Sculptures Africaines d'un Collectioneur de Geneve, Dec. 1978-July 1982

拍品专文

Savary (1978, p. 38) notes that the figure represents a Dahomean warrior wearing nineteenth century military dress. The hands originally held weapons. He suggests that the figure represents Gezo (1818-58), the first ruler of Dahomey, known to be a fine warrior who defeated the kingdom of Oyo. The figure might have been taken by the French Colonel Alfred-Améedéee Dodds, the leader of an expedition that overthrew the Dahomean kingdom in 1894. At the time he had objects from the royal palace removed and shipped to France, among which could well have been this one.