Null Ɵ So-called Jonyeleni beautiful female figure,
Société du Jo, Bamana, Mali
…
Description

Ɵ So-called Jonyeleni beautiful female figure, Société du Jo, Bamana, Mali Presumed time: late 19th century Wood with brown patina, milking nails and metal rings H. 47 cm So-called Jonyeleni beautiful female figure, Jo society, Bamana, Mali H. 18 ½ in Provenance: - Quay-Lombrail sale, Paris, 30 June 1994, lot 10 - Gaston de Havenon collection, New York - Private collection The Bamana live in Mali southwest of the Dogon territory. Like the Dogon, their society is patrilineal and patrilocal. Essentially farmers, producing millet, sorghum and fonio, they have a strong ancestor cult and initiation societies organized by age group. These societies are of great importance to the Bamana. They teach the understanding of everything related to nature, the human being and the destiny that God has in store for him. The Bamana initiation society is called Jo (or Dyo) - jo jo meaning "the truth" - and also designates institutions such as the Ntomo, the Kono or the Tyiwara which function as regulatory and protective bodies for the community as well as intermediaries between the temporal and spiritual worlds. Originally, the Jo is feminine. It was the women who found its material representation in the bush and gave it to the men who organised the society according to the principles of this original Jo. This is why among the corpus of objects linked to the Jo cults, the Jonyeleni female statues like this one are essential. It is a materialization of the soul of the feminine entity at the origin of the creation of the initiatory practices that govern the society and maintain the social order. Our example, which comes from this corpus, has all the characteristics of Bamana art. A relatively schematic plastic, like the Dogon neighbours, but unlike the latter whose aesthetic could be described as austere, the Bamana sculptor generously deploys the articulation of volumes. Sometimes frank and clear like the junction between the very flat bust and the gushing breasts, sometimes more supple and continuous like the curves of the legs and the soft line that runs from the shoulders to the hands. The presence of the geometric decoration representing the scarifications associated with a very beautiful patina of age testifies to the importance of this work whose primary purpose was to enhance the presence and social function of the Jo during the septennial ritual representations in which this beautiful Jonyeleni statuette was used. Note that two other examples seem to be from the same workshop, one is kept at the MET in New York (ref. 1979.206.12), the other in a private collection (collected in situ around 1925 by R. Chaimbaux), published in Lumière Noire. Arts Traditionnels by the Tanlay art center in 1997 (n°18). Ɵ This lot is in temporary importation

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Ɵ So-called Jonyeleni beautiful female figure, Société du Jo, Bamana, Mali Presumed time: late 19th century Wood with brown patina, milking nails and metal rings H. 47 cm So-called Jonyeleni beautiful female figure, Jo society, Bamana, Mali H. 18 ½ in Provenance: - Quay-Lombrail sale, Paris, 30 June 1994, lot 10 - Gaston de Havenon collection, New York - Private collection The Bamana live in Mali southwest of the Dogon territory. Like the Dogon, their society is patrilineal and patrilocal. Essentially farmers, producing millet, sorghum and fonio, they have a strong ancestor cult and initiation societies organized by age group. These societies are of great importance to the Bamana. They teach the understanding of everything related to nature, the human being and the destiny that God has in store for him. The Bamana initiation society is called Jo (or Dyo) - jo jo meaning "the truth" - and also designates institutions such as the Ntomo, the Kono or the Tyiwara which function as regulatory and protective bodies for the community as well as intermediaries between the temporal and spiritual worlds. Originally, the Jo is feminine. It was the women who found its material representation in the bush and gave it to the men who organised the society according to the principles of this original Jo. This is why among the corpus of objects linked to the Jo cults, the Jonyeleni female statues like this one are essential. It is a materialization of the soul of the feminine entity at the origin of the creation of the initiatory practices that govern the society and maintain the social order. Our example, which comes from this corpus, has all the characteristics of Bamana art. A relatively schematic plastic, like the Dogon neighbours, but unlike the latter whose aesthetic could be described as austere, the Bamana sculptor generously deploys the articulation of volumes. Sometimes frank and clear like the junction between the very flat bust and the gushing breasts, sometimes more supple and continuous like the curves of the legs and the soft line that runs from the shoulders to the hands. The presence of the geometric decoration representing the scarifications associated with a very beautiful patina of age testifies to the importance of this work whose primary purpose was to enhance the presence and social function of the Jo during the septennial ritual representations in which this beautiful Jonyeleni statuette was used. Note that two other examples seem to be from the same workshop, one is kept at the MET in New York (ref. 1979.206.12), the other in a private collection (collected in situ around 1925 by R. Chaimbaux), published in Lumière Noire. Arts Traditionnels by the Tanlay art center in 1997 (n°18). Ɵ This lot is in temporary importation

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Statue, Bamana, Mali Wood Height: 54 cm Provenance: Pierre Vérité Collection, Paris Pierre Vérité Collection, Paris Olivier Castellano, Paris Dr. Adelheid Wurzer, Munich Adrian Schlag, Brussels Private collection, France Richard Vinatier Collection, Avignon (inv. no. 279) The remarkable dynamic of the volumes, inscribed in geometric forms, offering the eye an almost cubist rendering, the delicacy and finesse of the scarifications invading the body and the dark, shiny patina, bring to a climax the expression of feminine beauty in southern Bamana country, while incontestably testifying to the degree of ingenuity of Mali's artists, inspiring the greatest modernists. Living in Mali to the south-east of Dogon territory, the Bamana, who have a particular devotion to their ancestors, are organized around an initiation society called Jo. This social structure, inseparable from religion, is based on each individual's membership of a secret society. "Used during septennial initiations and carried from village to village by the initiates, [the statues] are part of the exhibition of Jo values" (Salia Malé in Colleyn, 2002: 154). Among the corpus of objects linked to Jo cults, female Jonyeleni (little Jo Nyele) statues like this one are essential. They represent the materialization of the soul of the female entity at the origin of creation. Their symbolic power is matched by their magnified beauty, with its schematic, sensual, rhythmic plasticity. Embodying the ideal woman, fertile and "at her most physically attractive" - with firm, generous conical breasts, rounded buttocks and narrow hips - to which Jo initiates can aspire at the end of their initiation. Called nyeleniou ("little nyele" literally meaning "pretty little one" or "little ornament"), a name frequently given to an award-winning girl, these statues represent the ideal qualities of nubile girls. The slender, refined torso, prominent hips and buttocks, and protruding breasts allude to fertility, which is exacerbated. This ideal beauty is enhanced by the engraved ornamentation on the arms, indicating adornment, and by the finely engraved chevron-shaped scarification marks on the abdomen, back and head - such as once adorned the bodies of adolescent girls, while the dark, shiny patina, according to Kate Ezra (1986: 17), evokes the bodies of Bamana girls preparing for dances. cf. Colleyn (2002: 155, cat. 137) By displaying such a figure, an initiate announces his desire to meet potential brides. See Vogel, Susan, Art/artifact. African Art in Anthropology Collections, New York, The Center for African Art, 1988, p. 42, for a statue in the former Charles Ratton collection of the Buffalo Museum of Science Science (C12758).