Chamba Wood Fetish Figure

A figure kept for protection. Cared for for years. Fed, as it were, with offerings.

Among the Chamba of Nigeria, carved figures were kept for protective and healing purposes and were often handled and treated with offerings over many years. This one, wood, 20th century, stands twenty-two inches tall on a modern base. The body is a flat, plank-like form with slender arms held close to the sides and short, bent legs. The head is reduced to two bulging lobes pierced with square eye openings, crowned by an arching band, with small metal rings at the temples. A thin band of red pigment marks the neck.

The patina is dark, crusted, deeply weathered.

It has the look of something that listened.