A Kissi Stone Bird Stone Bird Kissi, Sierra Leone / Guinea Ohne Sockel / without base Stone. H 23 cm. Provenance: Gérald Minkoff (1937-2009) and Muriel Olesen (1948-2020), Geneva. Published: Minkoff (Gérald), 1988, "Le regard et la séduction", Carouge: Galerie Delafontaine. Number 7. Exhibited: Galerie Delafontaine, Carouge. Le regard et la séduction (1988). Described by Gérald Minkoff in the 1988 exhibition catalog "Le regard et la séduction" as follows: Sculptures pomtan, Kissi, Guinée Fig. 7, 23 cm, stéatite, XVI° siècle. Les Kissi, qui sont essentiellement des riziculteurs de la haute Guinée et des franges du Sierra Leone, ainsi que du Liberia, ne sont pas des sculpteurs. Although we know a few rare relics in wood, specifically for the Pomtan, they have never carved pierced figures. They have all been recuperated by cultivating their fields and do not admit to being the authors. Celles-ci appartiendraient à des civilizations disparues au milieu du XVI° siècle lors des grandes invasions qui bouleversèrent ces régions. Les paysans Kissi qui les ramassent dans leur sol y reconnaissent, selon un rituel particulier qui fait intervenir le rêve et la divination, le portrait de tel ou tel défunt et conservent ces pomtan (pomdo au singulier) sur les autels familiaux et à leur tour ces figures d'ancêtres peuvent devenir des instrumente de divination. The morphological characteristics are quite different in the ensemble, be it the figures found in Kissi or Mende and on the littoral. The first ones are generally more massive, cylindrical, while the second ones emphasize a forte forte and projected in front, supported by a well-decoupled torse from which the waisted members emerge in high relief. The bird in fig. 7 is a chef-d'œuvre that we consider unique, but it is not without reference to the mammoth collection of the Völkerkunde Museum in Munich: the same quality of the pierre, the same way of carving the torso in relief, the same order of size (the Munich version measures 31 cm), the same way of carving the details. Les doigts des pattes (trois en avant, un en arrière), le plumage (d'un touraco ?) avec les rémiges gui recouvrent en partie les rectrices la huppe sur le sommet de la tâte tout cela est traité avec la plus grande attention. This sculpture was not made from scratch on a stable base and we do not know how the Kissi were able to incorporate such an object into their equipment. -------------------------------------------- Most of the known stone figures were found in the area between the Sherbro Islands and Guinea, between western Liberia and the Temne country in Sierra Leone. The chance finds in the Kissi and Mende areas were discovered by field workers or uncovered on riverbanks. In 1883, the British colonial official T.J. Alldridge was the first to find two objects on Sherbro Island, which he subsequently sold to the British Museum. Since then, a certain number of objects have found their way into museums and collections, while others have been retained by the local population. The Kissi and most other ethnic groups in the region call the sculptures pomdo (pomtan = the dead) and regard them as ancestors turned into stone to whom the owners make offerings. The Mende call the stylistically distinct works they find nomoli (Mz. nomolisia = found spirits). They are aware that they must be artifacts left behind by earlier cultures and use them in fertility rites. The rarest stone works are the impressive, sometimes life-size heads from the Mende region. They are known locally as mahen yafe (spirit of the chief) and are the property of the poro confederation. These heads are not fragments of larger figures and the bases used as plinths are not broken. In 1852, the British missionary George Thompson discovered five of these objects at the foot of a tree, all of which may have been accidentally or deliberately damaged. When he asked the local rulers about the origin of the stones, they replied that these objects must have grown here, as none of their people could make such things. A wide-ranging mineralogical test carried out by the Musée de l'Homme in 1945 on around 300 objects revealed that around two thirds were made of steatite (= soapstone, a naturally occurring chemical substance that is easy to work with) and the remainder of chlorite schist, amphibolite, granite and dolerite. Stylistically, the evidence is very similar to the Afro-Portuguese ivory carvings from the 16th and early 17th centuries, which were made in the same area by local craftsmen on behalf of the Portuguese nobility. The European merchants referred to the

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African and Oceanic Art from the Collections of

Jean-Louis Rinsoz, Marcel Roux, Pierre Vérité, Henri Kamer, Paul Berger-Frei, Gérald and Muriel Minkoff, Charles-Edouard Duflon,

Thierry Santos, Hans und Carla Baumann, René Rickli, Alfons J. Keller, Edwin Bentley Savage, Edith Mbella, Mama Mecano,

Galerie Alain Bovis, Galerie Alain Naoum, Galerie Tribal Art Classics, Galerie Alain Lecomte, Galerie Walu

All items are guaranteed to be as described or your MONEY BACK.

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