Funerary Post (kigango)

Giriama people, Mijikenda group, Kenya, African

20th century

  • Titles Funerary Post (kigango) (Descriptive)
  • Medium wood
  • Dimensions 74 1/2 × 4 1/2 × 3 1/4 in. (189.2 × 11.4 × 8.3 cm)
  • Credit Line Gift of Ritt Berry, 1987.201.8
  • Work Type funerary post
  • Classification Sculpture

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Seated Figure, Bamana people, Mali, African, iron
Vessel cover dedicated to the river god, Erinle. Such vessels were used to hold "moving water" from rivers or the sea, but not from wells, Every sixteen days the water is renewed together with two stones taken from a river as symbols of Erinle. The stones are also considered analogous to embryos in the womb. Surmounted by a male figure with his arms around a bowl on a potstand, a salamander or other river animal is behind him, and ritual implements surround him.
Snake, Gan people, or Lobi people, Burkina Faso, African, iron
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