Pair of figures

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Description

wood, greyish brown patina, traces of black paint, eyes with metal tags, male/female, rising from long legs, provided with voluminous shoulders and striking small heads with large ear conches, incised scarifications, slightly dam., cracks, side by side mounted on a plate;
“jo” characterizes the entity of the rites and cults of the Bamana people. “Jo” is embodied by two kinds of figures: by “jo mooni”, a figural depiction of the spirit of “jo” and by “jo nyeleni”, effigies of the female founders of the cult. Presumably the two figures depict “the primordial couple” of the Bamana.

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Comparing literature

Colleyn, Jean Paul (Hg.), Bamana, Zürich 2001, p. 143 f.

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