Mumuye
(Mumoye), Nigeria
Male
statue incarnating the tutelary spirit. Estimated 70,000 to 400,000 Mumuye live in
northeastern Nigeria, on the left bank of the Benue River. They cultivate sorghum, millet,
and yams. Due to the difficulty of access to their lands of rocky hills and savannas, the
Mumuye remained in near total isolation until the end of 1950th. Few were known
about them before the 1960s. Mumuye artists are famous for their unusual wooden statues
discovered only in 1968. These figures always display elongated body features. Even though
the Mumuye show great respect for the ancestors, their statuary does not depict ancestors
but rather incarnates tutelary spirits. These statues were used by both diviners and
healers, whose professions included diagnosis and cure of ill health and other kinds of
misfortune. The figures were used to greet rainmakers clients, guard the house, and
serve as the owners confidant. They are also used in trials when men in dispute
swear on the statue, which they must kiss. Elders used them to reinforce their status in
society. It was not unusual for a figure simultaneously to serve two or more functions.
Material: wood on metal stand
Size: H. 34,
W. 8, D. 7½