Maternité "katyéléô" - "mother of the children of the poro" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Senufo · ID: 3047918

Description

wood, rich sticky sacrificial patina, base

The Senufo also have symbolic maternity for fertility and reproduction and as a guarantee for the future existence of the community.

Their actual meaning, however, is much more complex. The generalised or even idealised figures are embodiments of the primordial mother who guides and protects the sum of all the children of the community.

“Katyéléô” was particularly regarded as the protector of the initiates. The representations of mother-and-child figuratively signify a feeding of the novices with the knowledge of the “poro”.

Comparing literature

Burkhard, Gottschalk, Senufo - Unbekannte Schätze aus privaten Sammlungen, Düsseldorf 2009, p. 80 ff.

Publications

AHDRC: 0153340