Standing couple ·  Mali, Bamana · ID: 3036909

Description

light wood, shiny dark brown patina, necklace with miniature glass beads, metal earrings, slender figures with edged shoulders, eyes inset with metal tags, female with scarifications at the upper part of the body and the back, min. dam., cracks, small missing parts, slight traces of abrasion, base;
“jo” characterizes the entity of the rites and cults of the Bamana people. “Jo” is represented by two kinds of figures: “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.

Comparing literature

Leuzinger, Elsy, Die Kunst von Schwarz-Afrika, Recklinghausen 1972, p. 52, ill. B 2