Maternity figure with raised tray
This maternal figure holds an offering tray aloft on behalf of those seeking to conceive children. Composed in the round with dramatically jutting forms, both the mother and child reflect influences from Afo, Ebira, Idoma, Igala, Jukun, Tiv, and Yoruba sculptural traditions. This remarkable convergence of cultural expressions occurred in the Benue River region, where diverse populations were pushed into contact when seeking to escape an early nineteenth-century military jihad by the Fulani-led Sokoto Caliphate.
Artwork Details
- Title: Maternity figure with raised tray
- Artist: Lower Benue River artist
- Date: 19th–early 20th century
- Geography: Nigeria, Okpoto(?), Benue River Valley region
- Culture: Lower Benue Valley peoples
- Medium: Wood, pigment
- Dimensions: H. 22 3/4 × W. 10 3/4 × D. 10 1/4 in. (57.8 × 27.3 × 26 cm)
- Classification: Wood-Sculpture
- Credit Line: Gift of Paul and Ruth W. Tishman, 1996
- Object Number: 1996.432
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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