Large Nigerian Igbo Tutelary Deity Statue Alusi Female Figure 35" H

West Africa, southeastern Nigeria, Igbo. An imposing carved wood alusi figure of a standing nude woman, made by Igbo carvers to serve one of the tutelary deities venerated in village shrines. She stands stiff-legged with feet slightly apart on a low integral base, arms held free of the torso, a raised band at each upper arm and a strand of reddish stone beads at her throat her only adornments. A tall sagittal crest of hair rises over a domed head and slender columnar neck. The face, with its full lips, pointed nose, and white pigment around the eyes, is carved with care, as are the full breasts and projecting navel, while the hands and feet are treated more summarily. Whitened lower legs and a darkened, layered surface record periodic repainting, likely during the annual festivals at which such figures were honored. The Igbo live mainly east of the lower Niger River in southeastern Nigeria. Igbo society has long been known for its largely decentralized political organization, in which many communities governed themselves through councils of elders and title societies rather than kings, and in which rank and prestige were earned through achievement more than inherited at birth. Within this framework, Igbo carvers produced a wide range of sculpture, including masks, title-society objects, and figures representing deities, culture heroes, and ancestors. Alusi (also rendered alose or arusi) are tutelary deities who sit below the supreme creator in the Igbo cosmos. They may be connected to the earth, a market day, a river, or the founding of a community, and they could be called on for the well-being of a village and its people. Carved figures in their honor were kept together in a shrine house, often lined up against a wall, in groups that could number as many as twelve. The group was understood as the deity together with members of its family (spouses, children, and attendants), and the shrine's power and vitality were thought to grow as the number of figures grew, along with the village's prosperity. A priest looked after the figures, and the deities were consulted in cases of infertility and other social disorders. Once a year the figures were brought out, freshly repainted, dressed, and carried through the village before a feast in their honor, a public display of the community's unity and stability. The layered surface and pigment visible here fit that cycle of renewal. Alusi follow a fairly consistent formula: an elaborate coiffure, often a tall crest; facial and abdominal scarification or painted patterns that marked beauty and high status; rigid, slightly parted legs; and arms held away from the body, sometimes with the forearms extended. Because the type varies so little, a figure's appearance alone usually cannot tell us which deity it represented. Figures from the Onitsha area tend to combine carefully worked faces and torsos with more schematic hands and feet. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 202914

Estimate:£668.86

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