Verdite female Shona stone Bust by Nicholas Tandi, rare green verdite

Description

Maturity
This sculpture is of a mature woman adorned in a headwrap. It was hand carved in Zimbabwe by the world renowned artist Nicholas Tandi, one of the greatest sculptors to come out of Zimbabwe. He is the one who taught his younger brother James Tandi how to sculpt. Unfortunately, James Tandi passed away in September 2020 and a month later Nicholas Tandi himself suffered a stroke which left him partially paralyzed. This is one of the last pieces he made before the stroke and is made out of the rare green semiprecious stone called verdite. Chisels and hammers were used to carve the basic shape. The surfaces are smoothened with sand paper. The piece is then warmed up to be more receptive to beeswax before getting polished with wax. After the piece cools down, it is buffed with a soft cloth to reveal a shiny patina revealing these warm and rich earth-tone colors which are natural and unique to the particular stone. The surface is very smooth to the touch!
This piece is about 8.5" tall, 7" wide, 5.5" deep and weighs about 8 pounds.