A pair of Adamawa healing terracotta vessel collected in Adamawa region, Nigeria. Signs of ritual use and age. Incl stand. The Adamawa live in the north-east of Nigeria close to the border to Cameroon and have a striking expression of their facial features, which (with their open mouths) resemble those of Cham or Mwana. They are usually vessels for ritual medicine. Nevertheless, the figures differ significantly from those of the Cham or Mwa, which, unlike the Adamawa, have elongated lower lips. The Adamawa are hardly described in the literature, although they have great artistic skill in the design of their figurative healing vessels. This is presumably the only known rider figure, with whom you can not say what kind of animal it is. It could be a horse or a ram on which the rider is sitting. The representation of mounts is mostly about figures that were made before a long, arduous journey in order to successfully reach their destination. The model was taken from the horses of the Western colonialists, who also came from far away and had traveled a long way. Thus, animals on which one could ride became a symbol for a successful journey, to which magical powers were assigned and which were also sacrificed in some cases. "After a ritual specialist determined the cause of a disease, the patient was given a newly modeled vessel, into which the disease was transferred. Such pots, which tend to embody the symptoms described, are remarkable for their highly expressive and imaginative forms." Source Brooklyn Museum, Vessel for Kwandalha Divination. "The art of manufacturing and the knowledge of its use are reserved for only a few old people today; the young generation, brought up by missionaries, often no longer even know of their existence", Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler, Erde und Erz, S. 271. Lit.: Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler, Erde und Erz. 2500 Jahre Afrikanische Kunst aus Terrakotta und Metall, 1979. CAB29213 Height: 20 cm / 19,5 cm without stand Weight: 840 g / 790 g incl. stand