Standig female figure ·  Burkina Faso, Mossi · ID: 3034605

Description

wood, dark brown patina, the front strongly encrusted with greyish brown sacrificial patina, eyes with cowrie snail inlay, typical posture with arms arranged parallel to the thighs, characteristic womans hairstyle called “gyonfo”, facial scars that imitate the scars that are traditionally worn by Mossi women, slightly dam., minor missing parts (feet), cracks, socle;
in contrast to masks, which are used by the “tengabisi” in family religious ceremonies, figures are used by the “nakomsé” in a political context, as visual affirmations of the “nam” or the right to rule of the “naba”. Some figures are used for a short period for the burial of chiefs, and are destroyed, while others receive annual sacrifices to royal ancestors. When exposed to public view in “nakomsé” year-end ancestral sacrifices, figures invariably wear a small cloth wrapper that covers the lower part of the body and thighs in imitation of traditonal womens dress. Figures in collections outside Africa are unclothed. During the remaining months, figures are stored in the “kimse roogo”, in the hut of the chief’s senior wife.

Littérature comparée

Roy, Christopher, Art of the Upper Volta Rivers, Paris 1987, p. 158 ff.