A Jukun sculpture, beautiful male statuette, imprinted with tense lines, upright, feet firmly planted on the ground, his hands rest by his stomach, protruding navel, tall neck carrying an unusual shaped head of abstract forms, the face is carved on a vertical flat plane, with delicate features, a small mouth, long thin nose and small eyes, the rims of the face are laced, he has a goatee, the top of the head is delicately decorated; signs of use, old encrusted patina.

"This type of sculpture is used during funeral rites, agricultural ceremonies, to implore their protection, but also during the initiation of young boys into adulthood. However, their use gradually disappeared in the middle of the Twentieth century."
Source: Tribal Art

„The Junkuns are a West and Central African population living mainly in Nigeria in the upper Benue Valley. With the expansion of the former Junkun Empire, the Junkun or Turbo have scattered untie two groups: one settled south of the Donga River, and the other in the north of the region“.
Source: Tribal Art

"Within the body of figurative shrine sculptures that Arnold Rubin documented in northern Jukun communities, the examples he saw along the southern Taraba and northern Wase rivers, tributaries of the Benue, are distinctive enough to be considered a separate subgenre. In his Memoir" Rubin described the sculpture from the village of Wourbon Daudu, located along the Taraba River, as representing the "nuclear style" of Jukun figurative carving, Having had the opportunity to see many more examples than Rubin did during his lifetime, we argue here, that there was not a single "nuclear" style but rather several substyles that can be identified with particular Jukun town located north and south of the Benue river."

Lit: Central Nigeria unmasked, Arts of the Benue River Valley, which are also influenced by other tribes in the region of the Taraba State, Nigeria.

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Height: 51 cm
Weight: 1,2 kg