Standing female figure "niande" · Burkina Faso, Mossi · ID: 3040947
sold
EUR 1,100
Provenance
Ben Turch Collection (1920’s)Dirk Vonck, Brussels, Belgium (1970)
Hans Reinmöller, Ratingen, Germany (1994)
Lempertz, Brussels, 22 January 2013, lot 20
German Private Collection
Size
H: 63 cm
H: 24.8 inch
Description
wood, rich blackish brown patina, crested coiffure (“gyonfo”), incised scarification marks, slightly dam., minor missing parts, cracks, rep. (breakage left upper arm), metal base;
“niande” figures represent royal ancestors and are displayed at annual ceremonies that occur at key points in the agricultural cycle. During funeral rites, which generally occur long after the actual burial, a figure may stand in for and represent the deceased chief. The figures are also important in ancestral ritual.
Comparing literature
Roy, Christopher, Art of the Upper Volta Rivers, Paris 1987, p. 152 ff.