Description
BAMBARA CREST, CIWARA, FARAGOUARAN, MALI Wood H. 37 cm Provenance : - Acquired by Carl Kjersmeier in Faragouaran between 1935 and 1938. - B.B., Frankfurt am Main - Collection Jim and Ann Christensen, Buchanan (MI) - Binoche et Giquello, Paris, 17 May 2017, lot 5 - Private collection, Paris Publications: - Schädler K.-F., African Art in Private German Collections, Munich,1973, p. 40, fig. 33 - Colleyn J.-P., Bamana. The Art of Existence in Mali, Zürich, Museum Rietberg, 2001, p. 233, cat. 231 Exhibition : Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali, New York, Museum for African Art, 13 September 2001 - 19 May 2002, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum, 28 February - 11 May 2003 A superb crest distinguished as much by its great plastic inventiveness as by its historical pedigree. This surreal composition features three animals from the Bambara cosmogony. The pangolin, here topped with antelope horns, stands on the body of an aardvark. These crests were worn on the top of the skull by dancers during agrarian rites. A comparable example donated by Henri Labouret in 1930 is kept at the Musée du Quai Branly (inv. 71.1930.26.3)
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BAMBARA CREST, CIWARA, FARAGOUARAN, MALI Wood H. 37 cm Provenance : - Acquired by Carl Kjersmeier in Faragouaran between 1935 and 1938. - B.B., Frankfurt am Main - Collection Jim and Ann Christensen, Buchanan (MI) - Binoche et Giquello, Paris, 17 May 2017, lot 5 - Private collection, Paris Publications: - Schädler K.-F., African Art in Private German Collections, Munich,1973, p. 40, fig. 33 - Colleyn J.-P., Bamana. The Art of Existence in Mali, Zürich, Museum Rietberg, 2001, p. 233, cat. 231 Exhibition : Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali, New York, Museum for African Art, 13 September 2001 - 19 May 2002, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum, 28 February - 11 May 2003 A superb crest distinguished as much by its great plastic inventiveness as by its historical pedigree. This surreal composition features three animals from the Bambara cosmogony. The pangolin, here topped with antelope horns, stands on the body of an aardvark. These crests were worn on the top of the skull by dancers during agrarian rites. A comparable example donated by Henri Labouret in 1930 is kept at the Musée du Quai Branly (inv. 71.1930.26.3)
