Standing female figure "jo nyeleni" · Mali, Bamana · ID: 3033382
Description
wood, brown patina, body with massive shoulder/breast area, slightly dam., rep. (right hand), cracks (some of them spread with mass), on plate;
the “jo nyeleni” figures embody the spirits of the women who once founded the cult of “Jo”. They represent the ideal of a beautiful young woman. The figures appeared at big initiation festivities which only took place in a seven years turn. Mask figures called “yodenw” used to carry them from one village to the other, accompanied by the sound of a special gong, called “mango”.
The object Standing female figure “jo nyeleni” with the object ID 3033382 was last part of the auction 70th tribal art auction at September 8, 2012 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 197.
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Comparing literature
Colleyn, Jean Paul (Hg.), Bamana, Zürich 2001, p. 156