Water Spirit

1990

Brown Serpentine

  • 70cm (h)
  • 24cm (w)
  • 17cm (d)

33kg

Master first-generation Zimbabwean sculptor Henry Munyaradzi, the most sought-after name in the Shona sculpture movement

Henry Munyaradzi

Sculptor

The respected Matombo Gallery of Harare, Zimbabwe originally bought this piece directly from Henry, who is the most sought-after name in the Shona sculpture movement.

Matombo exported it to the USA for Henry Munyaradzi’s solo exhibition at Nicole Gallery in Chicago in January 1991. Here it remained until 2012. Then a private collector in the UK purchased it; they are now offering it for sale through Guruve.

It is in immaculate condition, as Guruve have recently fully restored it. Please note that during restoration, we noticed that a section of the base of this piece has broken off and been glued back on [visible in the last photo]. This happened at Henry’s studio, because his signature avoids the broken segment. It’s a superb repair job, as no-one noticed until now, more than thirty years later! Potential buyers please contact us and we can email you high resolution images of the area in question. The seller has reduced their asking price substantially to reflect this.

Henry has signed it on the base. Full Matombo paperwork accompanies the piece.

Beware of less scrupulous people than ourselves selling non-authentic ‘Henrys’ – if the piece or the price looks to good to be true, there’s probably a reason for it.