This item is a beautiful hand–carved sculpture of a village man from Kenya, East Africa. There are many traditions in Africa that are passed down from generation to generation. One tradition that has been constant in Africa for many generations is that it is the man’s responsibility to build the family home. He will go into the forest and first cut the proper timber for the house. He will then cut the trees about 10 feet long and place them in the ground according to the floor plan he desires, (normally just two rooms). He will then mud the sides of the walls and thatch the roof and the house is done. This carving depicts a man chopping a piece of wood with a “panga” (machete). This is an absolute gorgeous piece. A unique feature to this piece is that the carver even engraved his name on the bottom. The craftsman created this beautiful piece of folk art, using only simple hand tools of small axes, various-sized knives, files and sandpaper. We have personally selected this piece for its beautiful carved lines, realistically portrayed. The carving was done by one of the world-famous masters of wood: the Makonde Tribe of southern Tanzania, using only simple hand tools of axes, various-sized knives and sandpaper. The Makonde craftsman carved this figure from a single piece of teak wood, which is an exceptionally hard and richly dark wood found in the borderland strip along the tropical areas in certain sections of Central Africa. Teak’s exceptional density makes it both heavy and beautiful in its brown, glossy sheen when polished. This beartiful piece is 8" tall and 4 1/2" wide. |