Figure agenouillée d'un bossu

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Description

beige-coloured terracotta, red pigment residue, missing part, rest.

The old town of Djenne (“Jenne-jeno”) is located on an island in the Niger inland delta of Mali. In the 1940s, exquisite terracotta statues were discovered in this area. Archaeologists believe that they date from the 11th to the 14th centuries, but little is known about their function or significance. It has been suggested that some of these figures represent ancestors and were placed in family shrines.

There is speculation about the creators of these figures and it is believed that they were peoples of the old Ghana kingdom, who immigrated to the area of the Niger Delta.

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Publications

de Grunne, Bernard, "Figürliche Terrakotten aus dem Gebiet des Niger-Binnendeltas in Mali", München 1982, p. 44, no 14; Koslow, Philip, "The Kingdoms of Afrika, Mali", Chelsea House Publishers 1995, p. 13

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Remarques

This object is subject to the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Protection Act. Export documents are required for export (subjected to a fee).

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