Wood  figure  Tanzani Makond Ancestral

Among the major representatives of Tanzanian figurative art are the Makonde people in near-life form, who are renowned throughout East Africa for their original and often highly fanciful carvings. These Bantu-speaking people, who reside in the high plateau north and south of the Rovuma River along the border of Southern Tanzania and Mozambique characteristically portray their spiritual traits in artistic everyday form with much ritual overtones and custom. Their mask carvings were created for both male and female secret societies’ initiations. Many Makonde carvings are made from ebony wood. The Makonde are one of the five major tribes in Tanzania who originally migrated north from Mozambique to the southern Tanzanian highlands. Carvings of the Makonde in full body size are quite rare.