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Volume 2 114 |
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BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT TO THE SULTAN |
ART SERVES RELIGION: DAHOMIAN SCULPTOR CARVING A FETISH |
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| This aged crone is no less a functionary than the keeper of the Sultan's own harem, a position calling for some nicety of judgement, and a knowledge of her master's tastes, and involving not a little risk in case of dissatisfaction | Fetishism is not idolatry, but a belief that the services of a spirit may be appropriated by possessing its material embodiment, and a fetish thus is a useful spirit in its proper shrine. This devout Dahomian is making a clay image for presentation to his fetish priest, using the beak of a slain fowl to carve the features in the plastic material |