MOST INCREDIBLE AFRICAN STATUE/S! 2 Pieces - MALE + FEMALE w/BABY JOIN TO BECOME 1 LARGE STATUE!

OK I found these thrift store hunting today; I almost just bought the female because the male was missing a spear or something in 1 hand, but they looked so much alike with their jewelry/accent pieces I thought they went together & so bought both (they were $39 & $49!).

I noticed the make had a smaller base than the "rim" you see when it's standing on the ground, and I figured it must have been part of something bigger that it went into/sat on (like a tea pot lid).

The female has a baby in her arms but the way she's holding it, it looks like she's about to hand it over to someone or thrust it away(?) - it is not a loving embrace - also a large bowl on her head that I first thought was for flowers - and I started to think this was a tourist piece - and finally, she is sitting on a man's head!

But then it clicked that the male statue's base had the same design as the rim of the bowl and when I sat it on top of the female statue/bowl - it was a perfect fit!!

What do I have here? Where are they from? What was it for? (fertility? Protection? Marriage?) What is the stick/wand the man is holding for? (what went in his other hand?)

Together it stands just under 5ft tall (4' 11")

I've never seen anything like this!

Thank for any info and I hope you find it as intriguing as I do!

PS - At the end are a couple of photos I took once I got it inside - I will probably do them all again inside since it's much clearer - but look at how she is holding the child?






MORE PHOTOS BELOW (I took more than 10 - sorry!)

 

Here's some from inside my house - maybe a littler sharper?
Also, is there anything to how she's holding the baby or am I just seeing things?
Thanks again for your help!

 

It looks almost like an offering?
(on a lighter note - my girlfriend said it's because she didn't want him to nurse so she could keep her perky breasts! lol)

 

I believe your piece is Yoruba (West Africa - Nigeria, Benin, Togo and part of Ghana), based on traditional shrines to Shango, the god of thunder.

"Shrines dedicated to Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder, are furnished with mortars turned upside down to support large lidded calabash bowls. Shango priests store the deity's thunderbolts (Neolithic celts or axe heads), kola nuts, food offerings, oshe Shango (dance wands used to honor the deity), and other ritual paraphernalia in the bowls, which are placed on an upturned mortar.

In the Igbomina and Ekiti areas, Shango shrines are adorned with large sculpted arugba, or bowl carriers, like this arugba Shango, carved by Akobi Ogun Fakeye (c.1870-1946), that depicts a seated female holding a lidded bowl above her head. The central figure in a caryatid vessel is always female, depicted either kneeling or seated on a mortar, holding a large lidded bowl above her head with both hands. She represents a successful petitioner whom Shango blessed with children, one of which holds a bowl while the other one carries an oshe Shango in one hand and a dried stockfish in the other. The bowl itself is thought to be a metaphor for the womb, which Shango can fill with a new life if the devotee is faithful to him. The front and lid of the bowl are embossed with faces painted dark blue in reference to one's ori inu (inner head or personal destiny). Devotees touch the heads with their own foreheads while making an offering to Shango."
https://collections.dma.org/artwork/4363444


https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/84465

The male figure on top is presumably Shango, holding a thunderbolt. I don't know if your example was actually used, or made for sale. Often such dramatic, oversize carvings are designed for tourists. And the carving of the faces of the man and woman are not quite in traditional Yoruba style. In most Arugba Shango, the female figure uses both arms to hold the bowl on her head, which is part of the symbolism, rather than having it just sit there. But a child, or children, is usually included as in your piece - gifts of Shango.

 

WOW! Thank you very much - why I love this site!