Sculpted according to traditional mbole conventions, this African statuette offers a resigned and suffering physiognomy and a classic posture: legs bent, arms bent in an unnatural way, hands resting on the thighs. Velvety yellow-brown patina. Erosions. The Mbole are known for their statues embodying, according to D. Biebuck, hanged men, called ofika. The lilwa, an association with dogmatic initiation rites, had the custom of judging and condemning to hanging those guilty of infractions of the imposed rules. These offenses ranged from murder to adultery to breaking the secret surrounding the lilwa. Dishonored, the bodies of the condemned received no funeral and were buried in the forest. It was during the end of initiation ceremonies, presided over by a notable isoya, that these statues were exhibited, presented lying on a litter.
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