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Description

Ancestral couple. Mossi, Burkina Faso. H 40 and 44 cm. Standing on round bases, with comb-like coiffures, semi-circular ears and metal objects in the eyes; decorated with strings of glass beads, a scarf and metal rings in the ears (female figure only) (inv. no. 2.701). With copy of the invoice and the catalog page from Lempertz! Illustrated in: K.-F. Schaedler, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich (2009), p. 441. Christopher Roy rightly points out the lack of knowledge that existed about many of the Mossi sculptures until recently. This was not only due to the wide variety of stylistic expressions, which led to Mossi figures being attributed to the Bambara, the Bobo, the Kurumba or the Gurunsi, but also, and more importantly, to their relative rarity and lack of public appearances. These so-called chief or king figures, such as those offered here, are used in a political context by the Nakomsé, a class of conquerors who settled here in the 15th and 16th centuries, as a visual confirmation of the name or claim to power of the Moogho Naaba, the king of the Mossi. As they are carved for a single person or just a couple and are only displayed once at the end of the year in honor of the ancestors of the Nakomsé, these stylistic differences are easy to explain. Black-brown, partly thick oily patina, intact. Provenance: ex Coll. Rudolf Indlekofer, Basel; ex Lempertz Auction 911, Cologne 28.11.2007, lot 423.

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Ancestral couple. Mossi, Burkina Faso. H 40 and 44 cm. Standing on round bases, with comb-like coiffures, semi-circular ears and metal objects in the eyes; decorated with strings of glass beads, a scarf and metal rings in the ears (female figure only) (inv. no. 2.701). With copy of the invoice and the catalog page from Lempertz! Illustrated in: K.-F. Schaedler, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich (2009), p. 441. Christopher Roy rightly points out the lack of knowledge that existed about many of the Mossi sculptures until recently. This was not only due to the wide variety of stylistic expressions, which led to Mossi figures being attributed to the Bambara, the Bobo, the Kurumba or the Gurunsi, but also, and more importantly, to their relative rarity and lack of public appearances. These so-called chief or king figures, such as those offered here, are used in a political context by the Nakomsé, a class of conquerors who settled here in the 15th and 16th centuries, as a visual confirmation of the name or claim to power of the Moogho Naaba, the king of the Mossi. As they are carved for a single person or just a couple and are only displayed once at the end of the year in honor of the ancestors of the Nakomsé, these stylistic differences are easy to explain. Black-brown, partly thick oily patina, intact. Provenance: ex Coll. Rudolf Indlekofer, Basel; ex Lempertz Auction 911, Cologne 28.11.2007, lot 423.

Estimate 1 600 - 2 000 EUR
Starting price 1 600 EUR

* Not including buyer’s premium.
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For sale on Tuesday 16 Jul : 14:00 (CEST)
munich, Germany
Gorny & Mosch
+4989.242.264.30
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