Mahafaly post, Madagascar H. 97 cm Provenance: Collected... - Lot 40 - De Baecque et Associés

Lot 40
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Estimation :
3000 - 4000 EUR
Mahafaly post, Madagascar H. 97 cm Provenance: Collected... - Lot 40 - De Baecque et Associés
Mahafaly post, Madagascar H. 97 cm Provenance: Collected in the mid-20th century, private collection. If the imprint of time has erased the features of its face, has marked its veins more deeply, in its eroded hard wood, the influence of this female sculpture, of this Mahafaly pole, is nevertheless undeniably imposed, all in sensitivity through the fluidity of its forms in movement. To its force of dreamlike presence answers its symbolic value. It embodies a hymn to life deposited near the tombs. Imbued with a power both quiet and dynamic, it is one of the most sensitive and poetic expressions of African status. Funerary art, an emblematic creation of the Malagasy civilization, appeared in the center-west of Madagascar in the 17th century at the birth of the Sakalava kingdom. The sculptor, through his gesture, becomes a mediator of the sacred. These funerary posts were dedicated to the sacred cult of the deceased and symbolized the passage to the other world. The community life being intimately linked to the deceased ancestors, the funeral enclosure was worthy of special attention, it was the key point of confluence between the physical world and the spiritual world. Between Tulear and Ampanihy, the Mahalafy tombs are large stone buildings built at man's height. The posts were placed at the edge of the tomb, they essentially decorated the princely tombs, places of rituals in memory of the life of the deceased. Thus positioned, they contributed to the rebirth of the deceased in the world of the ancestors in the afterlife, embodying the "process of life at death, when the elder is reincarnated as an ancestor" (Borgatti, 1990, p. 49). This effigy is the symbol of reincarnation, of rebirth, and becomes a life force for the dead. Delicacy and power intermingle and can be read in her gestures, that of the hands hiding her breasts, and the points firmly folded against her bust. Intense prestance rendered by the slight withdrawal of the angular shoulders, of the arms detached from the rest of the body, in opposition to the softness of the curve of her hips and the smoothness of her legs. A moving beauty.
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