Old Beautiful Nyamwezi Dynamic Figure – Tanzania – Former Austrian Collection

Wood. Cm. 48,5 high (19.09″); Cm. 51,0 on the stand (20.08″). Grams 1.057,5 (2.33 lb.). Former Austrian collection.

The Nyamwezi people whose name means either ‘Men of the West’ or ‘Men of the Moon’, are the largest ethnic agrarian group living in noth-central Tanzania. Socially, they are organised into villages, which correspond into small chiefdoms, and each chief is responsible for the material wealth of the village, while the spiritual welfare is governed by the sorcerer. Ancestors and chiefs have been of considerable importance in the belief system and social structure of the Nyamwezi. Consequently, most of their art relates to these themes: theirs is one of the richest art traditions in Tanzania. Nyamwezi carvers are famous for their figures that are usually carved out of a dark, heavy wood with a shiny surface and have strongly elongated features (used in water divination ceremonies).

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