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This remarkable and impressive stone sculpture
of a human figure is both very old and highly
inscrutable. It is very tall, with a flat base that
comprises the figure’s feet and hem of the
dress/tunic. The figure is evidently female, with
low-relief breasts the shape of which suggest that
she represents and older woman. The arms are
elongated and thin, the hands folded on the
groin. The head is tall and rounded, with a flat
face. The hair is crested, the ears protuberant.
The features are very reductivist, with arched
brows, pierced eyes, a wide nose and an open
slit mouth on a prominent jaw. The “body” is a
columnar neck, supporting a well-formed head
with small, contracted features, coffee-bean eyes
under arched brows, a flat nose and a small,
open mouth. The hair is a series of elevated
ridges. The irregular condition and weathering of
the stone, which is extremely hard, implies that it
is ancient, and that it has been buried for a long
period of time.
The sculpture resembles Palaeolithic works from
Europe and Asia Minor, which are preoccupied
with “fertility” symbolism that usually revolves
around corpulent, schematically simplified
women with highly exaggerated breasts and
buttocks. This and other related pieces in the
Barakat collection have been classified as Bongo,
but there are issues with this classification. The
Bongo are linguistically, historically and
archaeologically attested to have come to Sudan
from the area currently known as Chad during the
16th century, thus post-dating this piece by
between 500 and 2000 years. We are thus talking
about an unexplored culture. The similarities in
style with Bongo art may be coincidence, but it is
more probable that the Bongo people acquired
their distinctive art styles from the previous
inhabitants of the area in the manner of the
Dogon and the Tellem.
As stated, nothing is known of this culture. Even
the age of the piece is uncertain: the span we
have provided is inevitably wide, and while it is
most likely to lie within the first millennium BC to
the first millennium AD, it may be older than this.
The Bura (Niger Delta) made similarly reductivist
stone pieces in the first half of the second
millennium AD. The art itself does imply a society
of considerable complexity, and thus settled,
agricultural and socially stratified. The function of
the piece is unknowable at present. However, the
size of the object exceeds that which might be
expected for personal talismanic functions, and is
more likely to be a social/religious focus that
represents an ancestor either real or mythical.
This is a rare and fascinating piece of ancient
African art.
- (SUD.001 (LSO))
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