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Bruce Frank Primitive Art
New York City, NY
+1 917 733 9589

Shrine Figure

Wurkun, Upper Benue, Nigeria
19th c.

Provenance: Unter Family collection NYC, acquired in the 1970’s.

The Wurkun are composed of a cluster of ethno-linguistic groups living in the Muri Mountains. Their “kundul” statues almost always appear in male and female pairs, mounted on iron spikes, allowing them to be staked into the ground.

These statues were used for protection and divination. They were frequently washed with liquid clay, “fed” with offerings of millet beer or millet porridge, and rubbed with oil, which explains the thickness of the patina. This figure reduces the human form to a bare minimum of basic trunk-like shapes and planar perpendicular forms. The abstraction is so total and alien that it barely appears as a representation of the human body at first glance. The figure has a typical columnar form, with the arms creating a ribbon-like raised ridge around the torso.

The face features raised eyes, a bulbous nose, and an elongated open mouth with exposed upper teeth. Large, rectangular ears flank the sides of the head, which is topped with a helmet-like coiffure. The figure boasts a fine encrusted patina over lustrous dark wood, highlighting its age and traditional use as a shrine object.

Shrine Figure

Wurkun, Upper Benue, Nigeria
19th c.

Provenance: Unter Family collection NYC, acquired in the 1970’s.

The Wurkun are composed of a cluster of ethno-linguistic groups living in the Muri Mountains. Their “kundul” statues almost always appear in male and female pairs, mounted on iron spikes, allowing them to be staked into the ground.

These statues were used for protection and divination. They were frequently washed with liquid clay, “fed” with offerings of millet beer or millet porridge, and rubbed with oil, which explains the thickness of the patina. This figure reduces the human form to a bare minimum of basic trunk-like shapes and planar perpendicular forms. The abstraction is so total and alien that it barely appears as a representation of the human body at first glance. The figure has a typical columnar form, with the arms creating a ribbon-like raised ridge around the torso.

The face features raised eyes, a bulbous nose, and an elongated open mouth with exposed upper teeth. Large, rectangular ears flank the sides of the head, which is topped with a helmet-like coiffure. The figure boasts a fine encrusted patina over lustrous dark wood, highlighting its age and traditional use as a shrine object.

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