A Rare Sakalava Figure of a Bird...

Description

A Rare Sakalava Figure of a Bird
Madagascar, c. 1900

Carved from hardwood, this rare Sakalava sculpture depicts a full three-dimensional waterbird (heron or egret) poised on a circular base. The arched body and long curving neck sweep upward and back, giving the figure an elegant Modernist silhouette. In Sakalava memorial art, birds were emblems of passage between the earthly and ancestral realms. At over four feet tall, this example combines monumental scale, refined simplicity, and great age, qualities that make it a rare and desirable survival of Madagascar's sculptural tradition. Condition: heavily weathered from being placed outdoors, large crack down middle, tip of lower beak missing. This monumental Sakalava bird is of striking elegance and exceptional rarity.

Provenance:
Acquired by the current collection in 1990
Ader Picard Tajan, Paris auction, May 21, 1990, lot 32
Maurice Bonnefoy, New York, NY
Thomas Alexander III, Saint Louis, MO
Robert Duperrier, Paris, France, as of 1971

Published:
Robbins (Warren M.) and Nooter (Nancy Ingram), African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989, Washington/London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989:529, #1403

Height: 51 inches

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