Door lock · Mali, Bamana · ID: 3033624
not available anymore
Provenance
Birgit Schlothauer & Gustav Wilhelm, Marl, Germany (collected in situ 1984)Size
H: 72 cm
H: 28.3 inch
Description
light brown wood, matt brown patina, in form of a highly stylized human figure, decorated with incised ornaments, complete with two cross bolts, rep. (head) min. dam., slight traces of usage and abrasion, on metal base;
locks of this type are of North African and Islamic origin. This finely carved example offered the protective power of ancestral spirits to the granary it guarded.
Comparing literature
Colleyn, Jean Paul (Hg.), Bamana, Zürich 2001, p. 62, ill. 32