This figurative staff is almost certainly by the same carver who made the pair of figures in the Brenthurst collection originally, acquired by Pitt-Rivers in 1897 (see Art and ambiguity, Johannesburg, 1991, nos.42-43, colour plate 24). This pair are now thought to originate from Mozambique, but a more accurate attribution would be 'Tsonga', a collective term for various societies that lived in what was formerly the eastern Transvaal and southern Mozambique.1 The presence of the headring can lead to misidentification as Zulu, but the ruling elite of the Tsonga, particularly those who moved into the Transvaal after the defeat of Gungunyane by the Portuguese, claimed Zulu origin and retained certain 'Zulu' elements of dress and regimental organization. The work of Tsonga carvers is distinctive for their extensive use of pokerwork on soft and lightcoloured woods and their ease in producing figurative carvings which are otherwise rarely seen in southern African art.2

This figurative staff shares many stylistic similarities to the 'Pitt-Rivers' pair. They all have 'punched' eyes and arched-pokerwork eyebrows, elongated raised noses, slit mouths, 'punched' nipples, splayed fingers and toes and semi-circular ears. In this male figure, the arms also return to the waist with hands placed on the stomach, but are slightly more angular in conception than the 'Pitt-Rivers' examples. The rectangular front apron with pokerwork on this figurative staff is almost identical to the front and back apron on the male figure of the 'Pitt-Rivers' pair, yet the raised and 'serrated' pokerwork necklace on this figurative staff is bolder than the circular neckrings on the 'Pitt-Rivers' pair. All these sculptures appear to be made from the same honey-coloured wood. The bases which are integral to the 'Pitt-Rivers' pair, and the 'ledge' on which the figure on this staff stands, would suggest that they were carved for sale to buyers outside the indigenous sphere of consumption. The adaptation of 'traditional' techniques and imagery by Tsonga carvers at such an early point in the colonisation of south-east Africa is a distinctive feature of art from this region.

1 See Rayda Becker, The making of an art history category: Tsonga headrests, unpublished PhD, University of Witwatersrand, 1999.

2 See A Nettleton, 'Tradition, authenticity and tourist sculpture in the 19th and 20th century South Africa', Art and ambiguity, Johannesburg, 1991, pp.32-57.