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.
Here you will find more objects and interesting facts about African art.
Comparing literature
Förster, Till, Die Kunst der Senufo aus Schweizer Sammlungen, Zürich 1988, p. 19