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. While sitting around a village camp fire the older men of the community tell stories to the younger generation of traditions of marriage, farming spiritual beliefs and many other ceremonies that are to be observed within the clan. Often times these stories are told in the evening while sitting next to their mud huts smoking a water pipe as depicted in this carving. The craftsman created this beautiful piece of folk art, using only simple hand tools of small axes, various-sized knives, files and sandpaper. A unique feature to this piece is that the carver even engraved his name on the bottom. 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, (one clan has now moved to Kenya), 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 beautiful item is 9" tall and 4" wide. |