Figural carved staff "tefalapica" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Senufo · ID: 3037255

Description

wood, blackish brown patina, crowned by a seated female figure with tribal marks on body and face, min. dam., small missing parts, slight traces of abrasion, base;
“tefalapica” means “the girl of the man working with the hoe” and presents the trophy money in a kind of hoeing competition. In September and October the young men of the Senufo have to cultivate the new yams fields, an exhausting field work, organized as a kind of competition.

The object Figural carved staff “tefalapica” with the object ID 3037255 was last part of the auction 78th tribal art auction at October 18, 2014 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 239 achieved a sales price of EUR 4,000.

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Comparing literature

Förster, Till, Die Kunst der Senufo aus Schweizer Sammlungen, Zürich 1988, p. 19