Konso Culture, Ethiopia
19th Century
Height 63 3/4" plus base
Provenance: London trade
This exceptional ancient post (waaka or waaga) with its beautifully eroded and beached surface, as a result of many years of exposure to the natural elements, is a memorialisation in wood of a specific male Konso ancestor. Waaka only memorialize xhe'tallitta (heroes) of the highest rank of the Gada grade, certain religious dignitaries, and or warrior-hunters. Among the Konso 'waaga' are essentially the material testimony of the heroic life of a man.
These Konso sculptures, like this fine example portrayed prominent characteristics of the ancestor, a fine hairstyle, a prominent erect penis as a symbol of masculinity and sometimes upper arm cuffs, all of which denoted his senior rank. This particular practice of memorializing dates back as far as the eleventh or thirteenth - century. A rare and powerful sculpture.
Konso Culture, Ethiopia
19th Century
Height 63 3/4" plus base
Provenance: London trade
This exceptional ancient post (waaka or waaga) with its beautifully eroded and beached surface, as a result of many years of exposure to the natural elements, is a memorialisation in wood of a specific male Konso ancestor. Waaka only memorialize xhe'tallitta (heroes) of the highest rank of the Gada grade, certain religious dignitaries, and or warrior-hunters. Among the Konso 'waaga' are essentially the material testimony of the heroic life of a man.
These Konso sculptures, like this fine example portrayed prominent characteristics of the ancestor, a fine hairstyle, a prominent erect penis as a symbol of masculinity and sometimes upper arm cuffs, all of which denoted his senior rank. This particular practice of memorializing dates back as far as the eleventh or thirteenth - century. A rare and powerful sculpture.
