Figure

This is one of several clay figures donated to the Museum in 2001.

The figures are said to have been acquired near Gondar in 1968 and this seems likely to be accurate as the Semien Gondar Zone is a known area of production. These figures have been listed in the museum documentation as ‘Falasha’ which refers to the Jewish people of Ethiopia. Although the community is widely known as ‘Falasha’, they themselves prefer the term Beta Israel, which translates as ‘House of Israel’. ‘Falasha’, which can be translated as ‘wanderer’, is considered to emphasise their outsider status as Ethiopian Jews. The Beta Israel population in Ethiopia is now very small as between 1980-1992 45,000 (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Beta Israel people left Ethiopia for Israel, under the ‘Law of Return’, in order to escape drought and famine.

The Beta Israel often worked as craftspeople, and this contributed to their outsider status. Men were known for weaving and metalwork while pottery was done by women. The pottery was generally of a practical nature, water jugs etc. but during the late 1940s Beta Israel women began to produce clay figurines. These figurines depicted people, animals and scenes from family and religious life. This was unusual in Ethiopia where three dimensional figurative sculpture was regarded as taboo. They proved to be greatly in demand among foreign visitors to Ethiopia and were sold at open air markets or roadside stalls That they were produced for an international market does not diminish the charm of these pieces.

The phrase ‘Lion of Judah’ comes from the bible where it is used in Genesis in reference to the Israelite tribe of Judah, and in Revelations where it is used to refer to Jesus. It is an important symbol in Ethiopia that denotes the mythical link between Ethiopia and King Solomon. The Beta Israel, as well as Ethiopia’s Christians, believe their origins to be with the retinue who returned to Ethiopia with Makeda (the Queen of Sheba) following her visit to Solomon.

H. 167 x L. 123 x W. 52 mm