Exceptional and rare tsonga spoon, from South Africa.

This spoon, of which no other example is known to date, is certainly ceremonial. It takes the exact definition for the handle of the baboon master's sticks: representation of a married woman, wearing the traditional hairstyle associated with Zulu-speaking women, who lived in the chieftaincies of Natal towards the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century.

The child she carries on her back is naked and clutching her mother's abdomen with her arms and legs. The interaction between the mother's arms and the child's limbs creates a formal dynamic that can be found in certain Central African pieces. The overall impression is one of extreme grace and elegance. Its deep, shiny caramel and brown patina demonstrates a very old use.

Bibliography :

• For a stick by the same hand:
• Art of South East Africa, from the collection Conru edition of the 5 continents, 2002 - pages 32, 58, 59, 183.
• And also Women in the arts of Africa Musée Dapper 2008, p 38.

Provenance :

• Former French collection
• Former collection Marc Ducret