African Arts Gallery

Makonde statue (N° 22422)

Female figure that the weight of a child, on the back, seems to bend. The face presents the traditional deformation of the lips due to the labret. The tattoos were traced with beeswax, and scarified patterns were also made for aesthetic purposes. These statues symbolizing an ancestor would refer to the creation, according to which the first Makonde man would have carved a female image who became the mother of his children and who has been revered ever since. Eroded black patina, desiccation cracks and losses.
The Makonde, a matrilineal Bantu people of northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania, wore helmet masks called lipiko, mapiko, during initiation ceremonies for young people . The Makonde venerate an ancestor, which explains the abundance of relatively naturalistic female statuary. In addition to face masks, midimu, the Makonde also produce body masks featuring the female bust, exalting fertility.