Staff "tefalipitya" or "daleu" for a champion cultivator · Côte d'Ivoire, Senufo · ID: 3042625
sold
EUR 1,600
Provenance
Nagel, Stuttgart, 9 November 1999, lot 472Heinz Kolerski, Fellbach, Germany
Size
H: 30 cm (figure)
147 cm (inclusive staff)
H: 11.8 inch (figure)
57.9 inch (inclusive staff)
Description
wood, rich slightly sticky black patina, typically crowned by a seated female figure, separately worked and fit on the staff, abundantly adorned, slightly dam., abrasion of paint, rep. (horn tip above forehead rest.), breakage (seat/back leg of the stool), cracks (staff).
The sculpted figure always represents a “pitya” - a young unmarried woman at the peak of her physical beauty. “Te-fali-pitya” means “hoe-work-girl”.
Comparing literature
Vogel, Susan, For spirits and kings, African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, New York 1981, p. 48 f.