FREE ESSAY ON FEMALE GABLE FIGURE

FEMALE GABLE FIGURE

Female Gable Figure (Dilukai),
19th- early 20th century; Belauan
Wood, paint, Kaolin (Chinese Clay) 
The piece of work I selected caught my attention as soon as I set eyes on it. It is
"Female Gable Figure (Dilukai)" a 25 2/3-inch high wooden figure of a nude woman with her
legs straddled. The piece seemed to be very crudely done. It appeared to be chiseled,
very abstracted and very unrealistic. Her hair appears to be in a bun, her face has no
expression. The arms that lead down to her knees and upper torso look detachable. The
breasts are triangular and the left breast is lopsided. There is also an additional piece
of wood around the lower part of the left arm. The legs are apart and the under half of
the leg in a darker color. The woman's exposed genitals are represented by a large dark
colored triangle. The artist carved the woman's vagina in vivid detail leading me to
believe this sculpture was used for some sexual purpose. The figure appears on a wall in
the museum however, due to the name of the piece I imagine this piece would have been
mounted over the door of a building. 
I had two reactions to this piece. When I first saw this piece, it got me upset. Upset in
that I did not believe someone would actually look at a woman and think that a sculpture
like this one would be a good idea. I immediately thought this artist has no respect for
women or a woman's body. Then I found it somewhat funny and ironic that although I found
this piece upsetting it was one of the few pieces that caught my attention. I found
myself wanting to know more about this piece and the reason behind its existence. Thus
making it the piece, I would write this paper on.
My response to this piece came from my thinking that whoever did this sculpture must not
have thought very highly of the woman this piece is representing. To think the artist
took his/her time to carve every detail of a female's vagina and not pay much attention
to the rest of the woman's body got me a little upset. However, after reading what this
piece was originally used for and the story behind it I looked at it differently. I still
cannot view this piece as fine art but I accept what its original purpose was.