Carving

The Makonde were a matriarchal, agricultural society. Traditionally, it is thought, the sculpture of the Makonde was restricted to ceremonial and ritual goods. Shetani spirits or creatures, now seen in contemporary Makonde sculpture, were probably unknown before the advent of commercial art production in the mid-1950's. Tales of encounters with these rarely seen spirits or creatures were part of Makonde mythology and folklore and may have served as artistic inspiration for the pieces.

Commercial art.

Solid totem of naturalistic male figures, some with skeletal-like heads. Sculpture is two sided. On one side at the bottom left is a naturalistic human head in profile. Above is a crouched figure laying on its back and holding another smaller figure. Straddling the bottom left head is a large figure with a slightly skeletal face, large teeth, and holding a small figure on its shoulders. At the bottom right are two human heads, one is inverted. There is also the back view of a figure whose head is hidden. On the other side, the left remains almost uncarved. The bottom right has a standing human figure with a crouched figure above it; also half a human face in profile. Several surface cracks run the length of the sculpture.