1969.S.6 Standing Figure

Small in stature but monumental in visual impact, this standing figure is highly stylized. There are no eyes, only a nose with slanted nostril-like perforations on its concave face. Below, a hole probably represents a mouth. One of the pierced ears carries an ornamental stalk. Beneath the angular neck, relief-carved arms frame a prominent herniated navel. The figure stands on short zigzag legs. 

Neither this figure's precise ethnic attribution nor its use is known. Stylistic traits and religious practices suggest it originated in the Ubangi region and may have been used to ascertain the cause and cure of misfortune. It was a surrogate for a rubbing oracle—like the Kuba divining object in the form of an animal (1969.S.76.a-b)—when a diviner was not available. The central plane of the figure's torso corresponds to the divining instrument, and the navel represents the disk rubbed along the instrument.

Roslyn A. Walker, Label text, Arts of Africa, 2015.

n.d.: Stillman Collection, New York

1969: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, purchased from above [1]

Notes:

The main source for this provenance is the object record card in the Collections Records object file.

[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1969.S.6