Fon One-Eyed Fetish Figure

This remarkable standing statue, carved from a single piece of light wood, shows a figure, not only with one eye, but also one breast, one ear, and one lip (the lower but not the upper). Each hand has just two fingers and a thumb. Additionally, a red snake is shown wrapped around its upper head, consistent with the Fon belief in snake spirits. The figure seems to be a fetish figure based on a deformed infant.

The figure has previously been sold through Sotheby’s twice and on each occasion it was catalogued as being Fon, from Benin.

From 1984 to 2014, the figure was in the Staley J. Seegar Collection/Estate. Seegar was a prominent and wealthy collector and liked to juxtapose tribal art with Cubist paintings. He assembled a collection of more than 90 Picassos for example. The collection also included works by  Francis Bacon,  Joan Miró, Jasper Johns, and Max Beckmann.  (See an article on Seeger.) It was sold in the Sotheby’s estate sale of the Seeger estate in 2014. Previously, it was sold at Sotheby’s in 1984.

(See: Lot 194, Sotheby’s London, ‘1000 Ways of Seeing: The Private Collection of the late Stanley J. Seeger,’ 4 & 6 March 2014; and Sotheby’s, London, ‘Tribal Art, Jewellery and Furniture,’ 3 December 1984, lot 153.)

The Fon people are the largest ethnic group in Benin Republic. Their traditional belief system is called Vodoun. Voduns themselves are spirits. The belief system allows for a single divine creator being, but below this is an uncountable number of spirits who govern different aspects of nature and society. Some are associated with particular cities, others with specific families. One group of these spirits are snake or serpent sprits. One such snake spirit foe example, known as Sakpatá, is the spirit of smallpox.

The image is mounted on a display stand. It is in a fine and stable condition. There are some losses to the extremities. There is a chip to the right foot. There is a shallow, stable crack to the left side of the face, and there is a stable crack to the centre of the figure. Overall, this is a striking and unusual image, with fine provenance.