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Article: THE ANCIENT POWER OF A BIRD OF PRAY; African Carving Conjures Many Worlds
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- November 30, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Like ibis-headed Thoth, the god of the Egyptians, he is part man,
part long-beaked bird, a denizen of earth and sky, a bridger of
worlds.
He is also -- says the label on his plastic exhibition case -- a
"Shrine Figure (a-Tshol)" of the Baga peoples who inhabit Guinea and
Guinea Bissau on the western coast of Africa. Recently acquired by
the National Museum of African Art, he now is there on view.
A-Tshol is, as such objects tend to be, something of a mystery. We
are not told who carved him, or exactly where or when, probably
because the museum does not know. Nor has it identified the
significant libations, of thanks or supplication, that left their
sticky residues on his narrow neck and ...