Lot: 276

94th Tribal Art Auction

Anthropomorphic figure "iagalagana"

Nigeria, Mumuye

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
Jean Zimmermann, New York, USA
Adrian Schlag, Brussels, Belgium
H: 28.9 inch sold

wood, base

The figure can be attributed to the same artist who produced the Mumuye in the Robert Rubin collection, which was auctioned at Sotheby's New York in 2011 (13 May, lot 18).

Within Nigeria's Benue River Valley region, such representations have been associated with a range of functions, including reinforcement of the status of male elders and use by healers and diviners in arriving at diagnoses.


Sotheby's New York, The Robert Rubin Collection of African Art, 13 May 2011, lot 18 (AHDRC 0098216) Herreman, F./ Petridis, C., Mumuye Sculpture from Nigeria, in: Tribal Art, No 81, Autumn 2016, p. 132, Fig. 10