Tribal Art

Sculpture from the area around Dar-es-Salam, on the coast of Tanzania, where the Kaguru, Luguru, Kwéré, Zaramo and Doé tribes live.
The female figure is recurrent in the sculpted works.
Perched on a seat with openwork feet, a woman wears a double crest pierced with holes. The arms are exaggeratedly long, extending from fingered hands, one of which rests on a breast.
Gray beige patina with kaolin.
The Zaramo and the tribes that surround them, such as the Kwéré and the Doé, designed dolls generally associated with fertility, but to which other virtues would be attributed. Its primary role is played during the period of confinement of the young initiate Zaramo. The novice will behave towards the object as with a child, and will dance with it during the closing ceremonies of the initiation. In case the young woman does not conceive, she will adopt the "child". Among the Zaramo, this carved motif is repeated on the top of canes, decorates ritual objects and even appears on burial posts.
Beautiful gray beige patina, residual powdery encrustations.