Standing female figure "jo nyeleni" · Mali, Bamana · ID: 3034347
Zemanek-Münster Würzburg, 10. September 1994, lot 17
Udo Petry, Hohnhorst, Germany
Description
wood, blackish brown patina, clay-like encrusted patina on the upper part of the body, loincloth of coarse sacking, dotted lines around neck and head indicating that there were metal cuffs attached before, the left eye stud with a nail head, part of metal on the forehead, slightly dam., minor missing parts (finger of the right hand, right ear, left heel), continuous fissure in the upper part of the body spread with blackish mass, crack (right side of the head), rep. (both feet), socle;
“jo” characterizes the entity of the Bamanas rites and cults. “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. “Jo nyeleni” figures appear every seven years within the scope of the big initiation rites of “jo”. Special mask figures, the so-called “yodenw” used to carry them from village to village, accompanied by the sound of a special gong, called “mango”.
Comparing literature
Colleyn, Jean Paul (Hg.), Bamana, Zürich 2001, p. 154 f.