A BAMANA IRON EQUESTRIAN FIGURE

rising from a slender shaft, the rider with and an elongated columnar torso and bent arms framing the conical head, incised with a repeating geometric motifs on the torso, facial features; fine and varied encrusted patina.

PROVENANCE

Acquired from Charles Ratton, Paris in 1967

CATALOGUE NOTE

'The making of sculpture is just one of a wide range of creative and sacred acts numuw carry out for their clients. They were the leaders of Komo, the organization that was once responsible for the spiritual health of the community, offering powerful protection against the evils of socery. .. The reputation of numuw as great socerers comes in part from their heritage as iron smelters, capable of smelting ore for forging weapons, tools, and sacred objects. Iron and especially iron ore is believed to have spiritually charged forces (nyama) from which blacksmiths need to be protected during the creative process (Colleyn 2001: 46).

The staffs themselves often depict equestrian figures. 'Like other types of Bamana sculpture, the forms are reduced to the essentials, with elongated torsos and drawn out limbs, smooth rounded surfaces, and attention to fine details (ibid.). The staffs served a variety of functions-- as personal emblems of status, as important signifiers, carried during initiations and funerals and placed strategically, as part of ancestor veneration, and more generally as objects of power.