Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

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. image 1
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. image 2
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. image 3
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 Street

Sold for £31,500 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

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 specialist

Ask 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.

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.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Respiro" (Breath)

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Jazz una forma di musica classica contemporanea che riflette il cosmo prospettico dell'Africa II (da una frase di Harolds Bradley)" (Jazz is a form of contemporary classical music that reflects the cosmos African II perspective (from a phrase by Harold Bradley))

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Il sole la vita" (The Sun, Life)

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Ipotese dello continuo" (I'm a fan of the continuous)

Willem Boshoff(South African, born 1951)Neves I & II

Karen Jarosynzka(South African 1934-2014)Quasimodo

Rom Isichei(Nigerian, born 1966)Conversation with my Alter Ego

Anton Karstel(South African, born 1968)Portrait of Ian van Biljoen

Anton Karstel(South African, born 1968)Adderley St

Greg Marinovich(South African, born 1962)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela(South African, 1918-2013)Left hand

Sophie Mowat(British, born 1988)The Other Bounty

Christine Dixie(South African, born 1966)Hide (To withhold or withdraw from sight)

Glory Samjolly(British, born 1997)Dear Archives

Walter Whall Battiss(South African, 1906-1982)Three Fook Stamps

Alison Turner(British, born 1976)At The Hands Of The Enslaved, Our Society Was Built

Stuart Bird(South African, born 1977)Zuma Biscuits 2 x 5 x 7cm (13/16 x 1 15/16 x 2 3/4in). (each) (4)

Neequaye Dreph Dsane(British, born 1973)Dress Code

Gail Deborah Catlin(South African, born 1948)Female nude

Kione Grandison(British, born 1996)Let Us Not Forget

Norman Clive Catherine(South African, born 1949)Fook Dog

Alvin Kofi(British, born 1961)The Longitude Of Culture

Guy du Toit(South African, born 1958)Little Deaths

Kazvare Knox(Zimbabwean, born 1986)Someone's Been Stealing Our Things