Dan Male Figure, Côte d'Ivoire

lü me
height 23in (58.5cm)

Provenance
Charles D. Miller, III, St. James, New York, acquired in Garplay, Liberia in the 1970s

Fischer and Himmelheber note, 'Occasionally one encounters full figures--usually female statuettes--in possession of a Dan man. These are carved wood images, ranging in size from 40-60 centimeters. They have eyes painted with white chalk, inset metal teeth, hair in the form of braided threads, and additions of jewelry or bits of clothing. In comparison with figures from other areas of Africa, these have relatively naturalistic proportions and details. [. . .]

These wooden figures called lü me, "wooden person", are neither ancestor figures nor representations of spirits. They are living portraits as all the reports of Dan fieldworkers confirm. The subjects are usually living people, whose name the figures bear, but they may also be "pure works of art", created by sculptors because they had the urge to carve a fine figure.' (Fischer, Eberhard and Hans Himmelheber, The Arts of the Dan in West Africa, Museum Rietberg Zürich, 1984, p. 117)

This lü me standing male figure could possibly be from the atelier of Zlon, one of the great master carvers of this region. While the work illustrates the classic style with naturalistic proportions and details--powerful legs, full muscular buttocks, slender torso--the artist has carved the hands behind his back which is very exceptional and rare. The eyes are highlighted with ochre pigments, rather than with white, and the torso is highlighted with crossing raised scarification and a feathered design down the back spine; glossy black patina.