An important voodoo bocio piquet statuette with its metal base, which allows it to avoid contact with the ground and to be planted in the earth during its ritual use. A slave's iron seals its lips, thus impeding speech, while a cleat is driven into the chest, the place of breath, which can lead to death. A padlock, always closed, attached to a goose skull (Plectropterus gambensis) fixed to the back of the character, allowed it to be opened to release the person targeted by the spell. Fon, Benin Wood, rope, bone, padlock, slave iron, cloth, clay, beautiful sacrificial patina of use. H. 38 cm Provenance : Anne and Jacques Kerchache Collection. Exhibitions and publications : - Voodoo Exhibition, Paris, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, 2011, reproduced on pp. 18, 43, 138 and 139. - Exhibition Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, 2013.