3-Headed Densu Legba Figure, kronkronbali
Fon, Anecho, Togo
Terracotta
Second half of the 20th century

In West Africa, supporters of the voodoo religion are mainly the large ethnic groups of the Ewe and Fon, each numbering about one million people, as well as smaller groups such as the Aja and Gun, among others living along the coast in eastern Guinea, Togo, Rep. of Benin, and western Nigeria. 

Terracotta objects made for the voodoo cult include dishes, pseudo-vessels, figures, and figural objects. Voodoo is a living religion, so it is subject to constant change and new cult objects are regularly needed. One such development took place on the 400km-lonmg Mono River, which forms the border between Togo and Benin. These are heads or figures with one or multiple heads that resemble voluminous upturned pots. They are placed on ancestral altarsand sacrificed with millet gruel. Their name, kronkronbali ("children of earlier times"), is a clear indication of the Ewe's concept of rebirth that equates birth with death: one is origin, the other return. These works of art are labeled "Mono River" because they are chiefly used in the Mono River area, but they have also been collected as far away as southern Ghana (Schaedler, Earth and Ore, 1997). 

Depicted here, Densu is the husband of Mami Wata. This piece is the work of the late Sowanou Ambede, a master potter from Aklakou, Togo, who was active between 1960 and 1990. Her work was famously studied and exhibited by Gert Chesi.

32 in :: 81 cm

InventoryID #13-1047

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