Tsonga - Tsonga-Shangaan Figure, 19th Century
Height: 22 7/8 inches
Standing male figure carved in wood. Among the Tsonga-Shangaan, the initiation of young men in
initiation lodges, separate from regimental age grades, continued throughout the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. The figures appear to have been made for use in such initiation
ceremonies, and may also have been set up in or near the houses of chiefs, as emblems of rank.
A similar carving is in the Museum fur Volkerkunde, St. Gallen Switzerland.
AA965
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