Flora Wirgman
Cataloguer
Lot 45
Anton van Wouw(South African, 1862-1945)The Mealipap Eater 16.5 x 28 x 32cm (6 1/2 x 11 x 12 5/8in) including base.
12 October 2021, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £31,500 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our African Modern & Contemporary Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Anton van Wouw (South African, 1862-1945)
The Mealipap Eater
signed 'A. VAN WOUW/ S.A_Joh-burg'; inscribed 'FUSE-G.MASSA/ ROMA'
bronze on marble base
16.5 x 28 x 32cm (6 1/2 x 11 x 12 5/8in) including base.
signed 'A. VAN WOUW/ S.A_Joh-burg'; inscribed 'FUSE-G.MASSA/ ROMA'
bronze on marble base
16.5 x 28 x 32cm (6 1/2 x 11 x 12 5/8in) including base.
Footnotes
Widely acknowledged as the father of South African sculpture, Anton Van Wouw conceived of the current lot in 1907. The Mealipap Eater depicts a Shangaan man, a tribe who lived in southern Mozambique and in the Northern Transvaal or Limpopo province of South Africa. The name Shangaan was derived from the Zulu warrior Soshangane; the tribe had once been rulers of the Gaza Empire.
Van Wouw shows his subject eating mealiepap from a traditional three-legged pot. The model is the same the artist used for another work from 1907, entitled Shangaan.
Although his subject matter was inspired by his life and travels in Africa, Van Wouw cast his sculptures in Italy where he could be assured of a higher quality of casting and attention to detail. The current lot bears the mark of the Nisi foundry in Rome.
The high quality of this cast brings to life the artist's delicate modeling on the face, hands and feet of the figure. Italian casts executed during Van Wouw's lifetime were traditionally mounted on a separate marble base, as seen in the present example. Later posthumous castings include an integral bronze base and the right hand of the boy holding a stick above the pot, rather than scraping food from it.
