Fine West African, Angola Ovimbundu Peoples Ritual Dance Staff (1800 to 1900 West African, Angola )

Wood

Provenance: Ex Collection of the Curzon family
The estate of 3rd Viscount Scarsdale, Kedleiston Hall, Derbyshire
The contents of the attics sold at auction by order of the National Trust,
March 2002

The Ovimbundu, Chockwe, Lwena and related tribal groups in Angola and the Congo all have similar staffs that serve a range of ceremonial purposes, but a particularly striking similarity are the elaborate hairstyles or headdresses that adorn both male and female heads on staffs intended for ritual and often supernatural functions. This staff has a female figure with a typical Ovimbundu hairstyle.
The Ovimbundu were the westernmost coastal link to the Portuguese sponsored trade routes with the interior. The merchants and chiefs became wealthy through this trade and would often commission objects of art to illustrate their political and financial status.

A Fine West African, Angola Ovimbundu Peoples Ritual Dance Staff
The finial carved with a female with an elaborate central crested hairstyle and the stem with a pokerwork and carved dogs tooth design
19th Century

Size: 112.5cm long – 44¼ ins long

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FOR SALE