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an image of a statue of a woman standing next to a black backgroundstatue of a woman holding a flower in her right hand and a vase in her leftafrican art one of a kind carved wooden sculpture of a personan image of a clay mask with a hole in ita statue of a woman with her eyes closed sitting on a tablean ancient statue of a woman with her hands on her hips
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Estimate €3,000 - €5,000
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Description
MBÉDÉ Mbdédé (or Ambété) ritual fertility statue (N’tap). From Kellé (near Okondja, Gabon). 20th century. Height: 96 cm. An IR spectroscopy dating certificate (G. Matthaes patent) from the Museo d’Arte e Scienza, Milan, no. 3AD-2807, indicates the date 1933 ± 6 years. Hardwood coated with kaolin. A receptacle on the back was used to collect the ashes of ancestors or medicinal remedies. The emphasis placed on the belly, which gently tapers upwards to form a chest crowned by two small breasts, the delicate rendering of the head and traditional hairstyle, the slender arms, and the delicacy of the hands resting on the upper part of the abdomen, all lend this statuette a very special elegance. The distinctive rendering of the legs, with their incredibly slender, concave curves, points to a reality other than that of our world: it serves to remind us that this statuette is not a depiction of motherhood in our world, but represents the spirit of fertility in the afterlife. This spiritual symbolism is combined with the elegant power of the short legs, which are rendered solid by their mass and elegant by their form. The mass of the legs in the lower part of the statuette echoes that of the neck in the upper part, which offers a striking contrast to the delicate rendering of the arms, torso and head. The design of the headdress, with its horizontal ridges, creates a break in the lines compared with the vertical legs and the statuette’s overall very slender appearance. Provenance: Pierre Redouin Collection. Bibliography: Published in *Le Souffle des Esprits*, Les Éditions de l’Amateur, Pierre & Hadrien Redouin, 2012, p. 164. Description: According to Pierre Redouin, this very elegant statuette was embedded in the ground within a temple.
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About the sale The Breath of the Spirits: The Collection of Pierre Redouin and Others
Auction location
Auction time 09/24/2026 at 2:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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