A RARE NAGA KONYAK TRIBE CARVED WOOD FEMALE FIGURE
Nagaland, Eastern Himalayas, North-Eastern India, 20th century

Carved in the round out of a single block of wood, with a bare female figure squatted and seated on a tree stump, with her hands over the bent knees, naked breast, and long hair, her ears pierced and possibly once adorned with earrings, the large almond-shaped eyes set with turquoise beads, possibly representing an ancestor or a semi-divine spirit.

47.4cm high

The Nagas are Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups native to North Eastern India and North Western Myanmar (Burma). The term Naga might derive from the terms noga or naka, which in the local dialect meant 'people with pierced ears'. In fact, Nagas have very distinctive personal adornments and accessories, and most men were headhunters with elaborate facial tattoos, earned each time an enemy's head was taken.

One of the main art forms of Nagas culture is wooden figurines, such as the present example. These figures were serving different functions. Socially, they were used to commemorate special rites of passage or the status of an important person. Ritually, it was believed that some figurines could magically bring a person closer to the spirits and the dead, or grant abundance and fertility. Another important function that these sculptures served was to decorate the entrance and walls of the Morung (Men’s House), a community centre where the tribe gathered. The sculptures reserved for the Morung aimed to portray the narrative traditions of the Naga tribes and their history.

Regardless of their function and aesthetic, Naga sculptures still possess today great symbolic importance in their community, playing an important role in their complex system of norms and taboos.