Additional information
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Ewe Shrine Figure
The Ewe (pronounced eh-veh) are a populous ethnic group divided between Togo and Ghana. The current spelling of Ewe reflects the group’s early colonial past, when they were subjugated by Germany, who were forced to surrender the colony to the British and French empires following WWI. The Ewe traditionally practiced vodún, a complex belief system closely related to that of the Fon people immediately to the east. Practitioners of vodún maintain shrines to their creator god Mawu, the subordinate gods created by Mawu, and ancestral spirits. Shrine figures are often treated with white clay (kaolin) and, according to their purpose, they may also be the subject of sacrificial blood from a fowl or livestock animal.
This figure was acquired from a New York collector who chose to retire to his native Spain in his eighties. He acquired the figure from a Paris gallery in the 1980s. $500
16″
