Equestrian figure "syonfolo" · Côte d'Ivoire, Senufo · ID: 3036068
Description
wood, slightly encrusted blackish brown patina, old label at the bottom, min. dam., small missing parts (hooves), slight traces of abrasion;
“syonfolo” roughly means “master of the horse”. Equestrian figures were part of the soothsayers objects and were made in reminiscence of the equestrian hordes of Samori Touré once depredating and destructing the Senufos land and villages. Nowadays hardly anyone remembers this painful time, but the Senufo combined horse and rider with power, violence and with a claim to leadership for quite a long time.
The object Equestrian figure “syonfolo” with the object ID 3036068 was last part of the auction 75th tribal art auction at November 30, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 294.
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Comparing literature
Chemeche, George, The Horse Rider in African Art, Suffolk 2011, p. 92