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The Collector(s) / Donor(s) Simon Ottenberg is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Washington. Having studied anthropology at Northwestern University with the famous Africanist Melville Herskovits, he began working in Africa in the early 1950s.His early research focused on various aspects of the Igbo culture of southeastern Nigeria, especially the peoples living in and around the town of Afikpo. In the late 1970s he shifted his research focus to northern Sierra Leone and the Limba people. In addition to his work in anthropology he has been a major contributor to the study of African art. He recently curated an exhibition and wrote a book dealing with a number of artists affiliated with the School of Fine Arts at the Nsukka campus of the University of Nigeria in southeast Nigeria. Since the early 1970s he has been an avid collector of African art. Professor Ottenberg donated a considerable portion of his collection to Michigan State University in 1992. Collector(s) / Donor(s) Statement The Object(s) Very little is known about this wood sculpture. Ottenberg recalls that he either purchased it in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in 1979-80, or from Jeremiah Cole in Seattle in the 1980s. Based on the carving style it may come from the Limba area of northern Sierra Leone. William Hart (1989: 51) has recently pointed out that there intrinsic in carvings representing females that identifies its function and that unless the figure in question was documented in situ one can only guess any number of contexts in which the figure originally functioned. One type of female figure represents a deceased twin. They are carved and taken care of as if alive so that the dead child's spirit will not become jealous and harm his or her surviving sibling. Hart (1989: 52) notes the curious phenomenon--for which he has no explanation--that these twin figures seem only to represent females. He has never seen a male twin figure. Indeed, male figurative sculpture of any sort is very rare in northern Sierra Leone. Further Information Books and Articles William Hart. "Woodcarving of the Limba of Sierra Leone." African Arts 23 (1) 1989: 44-53, 103. Internet Resourcesnone
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