Lot 101 Dα

This rare figure container was given to a relative of the vendor who was stationed in Madagascar in the early 1960s. The figure was sealed as evidence in a criminal case and is believed to have been held by the court since the 1950s. The vendor’s relative acquired the figure on its release by the Public Prosecutor.

We have been unable to find a close parallel for this container. The treatment of the coiffure is reminiscent of a figure surmounting a staff attributed to the Antandroy (Bertrand Goy, Arts Anciens de Madagascar, Milan, 2015, pp.34/35, pls.6/7). Inlaid eyelashes and brows are to be seen on a number of amulets from the Bara of southern Madagascar (op. cit. p.151, pl.86, p.153, pl.88, and p.154, pl.89). Goy also illustrates a male figure with a small cavity on its chest, now in the Barbier Mueller Museum (op.cit., p.174, pl.107) although its function is unknown. An attribution to southern Madagascar seems most likely.