Madagascar Wife's

Two old Sakalava Madagascar grave female figures with "expressive" female organs.

Height: 70 & 75 cm

Camphor wood with a specific smell known to repeal insects.

Provenance: Alain Bora in the 1990's

Price: 3,500 € for both of them.

In western Madagascar, important Sakalava families place their dead in rectilinear wooden enclosures whose corners are embellished with figural sculptures of women, men, and birds. This sculpture of a woman originally adorned such a gravesite. Its bent knees, elaborate coiffure, and full bosom emphasize an ideal of female imagery that was originally paired with a male figure to suggest fertility and regeneration.

The location of these figures and the orientation of the funerary structure relate to an astrologically based system of thought known as vintana. Sakalava peoples believe that the date and time of one's birth determines one's destiny, and that for each individual there exist certain points on the lunar calendar that are more or less auspicious. This system is expressed spatially through the four cardinal directions (east, west, north, and south) so that a person's vintana can be depicted by its position on a rectangle. On the tombs, male and female sculptures are frequently depicted facing each other diagonally, from opposite corners of the structure.

This arrangement describes the least favorable coupling of vintana, and is considered taboo. Scholars have suggested that this reversal of prohibitions actually reinforces the sculpture's associations with fertility and abundance. In Sakalava culture, such relaxation of social mores marks events associated with birth and regeneration, such as the beginning of the New Year. It is possible that their depiction on gravesites represents a similar affirmation of fecundity. (article found at metmuseum.org )

If you are you interested in adding a Madagascar Wifes to your collection or have any question please send me an email

Documentation:

  Forget Colonialism? by Jennifer Cole Forget Colonialism?: Sacrifice and the Art of Memory in Madagascar (Ethnographic Studies in Subjectivity) [Paperback]

read also this Kingdoms of Madagascar: Maroserana and Merina online Thematic Essay from the Met Museum.

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What to do Next ? If you order you will receive the above documentation with the Madagascar Wifes and free delivery wordwide and 15 days guarantee and six month exchange guarantee, no questions asked.

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