2-732-495 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Janus Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s. This Janus figure features opposing faces and symbolizes change and transformation. A cavity in the top of the head served to hold all sorts of ingredients with magical and medicinal qualities. Its brilliant patina reveals its use in repeated ritual applications, as the figure played a pivotal role in cults dedicated to the ancestors; in exchange for prayers, libations, and offerings, the ancestors were asked to safeguard the well-being and fertility of the population.The figure was called upon to remedy illness, pain, and other kinds of misfortune, and when displayed in a funerary house alongside the skulls of deceased chiefs and a number of large, standing ancestor figures, the sculpture was also used to solve female infertility and to protect and enhance the chief 's authority.