Makonde Shetani figure “Good Spirit” – Kashimiri Matayo.

This “Shetani” sculpture is a spirit that lives in mangroves of Mozambique and Southern part of Tanzania among the Makonde people. These fascinating figures, whose character seems to change completely depending on which angle you observe it from.

The artist uses spaces in the wood in order to create this figure which is cut out of the root of “mpingo” wood (ebony) in one piece of wood.

The artist Kashimiri Matayo, born in Mozambique in 1944 and is recognized as one of the greats of modern Makonde carvers. An important collection of Kashimiri Matayo Shetani figure among others, is to find at the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

The Makonde people of Mozambique living south of the Rovumba River and those living north, in Tanzania, occupy the high plateaus. They lived in isolated, sparsely populated hinterland, often purposely to avoid slave traders, but nonetheless lost untold thousands to the 18th and 19th century slave trade.

Measure: H: 82, W: 72, D: 36 cm. – Weight:  8.300 Kilos

Provenance: Kapt. Felix Lorenz, Dar-es-Salaam (Lauenburg, Germany) since 1961.

Literature:
Kirknaes & Korn 1999; „Makonde“- on page 43 where there is a photo of the working artist.
Prof. Elias Jengo; “Background of the Makonde sculpture” –

Zachary Kingdon; ”A Host of Devils: The History and Context of the Making of Makonde Spirit Sculpture” September 2002. Publisher: Routledge – ISBN: 0-415-27727-2