Bamana Female SOGO BO Marionette Head, Segou Region, Mali

Louis Carre, Paris
Gillet Collection, France
Alain de Monbrison, Paris
Private American Collection, acquired from the above

Very good condition for an object of this type and age. Vertical hairline age cracks throughout, with some knots and inherent flaws in wood. Chipping around eyes (proper right eye is black ceramic, proper left eye is green glass). Remnant of white attachment (glass?) in mouth. Ears with numerous piercings. Very fine dark brown patina. Surface polished and possibly varnished. Four holes for attachment in support post. A hole for insertion of base pin in underside of post.
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According to Mary Jo Arnoldi (in Colleyn 2001: 78), "Sogo bo [masquerade] performances are important sites for the exploration of the moral universe. Even though they are defined as entertainment, troupes proceed with a seriousness of purpose, often mediated by wit and humour, to examine the nature of their world and their lived experiences. [... The] theater has constituted an important avenue through which young Bamana men and women have gained access to knowledge, instruction and experience in contemplating and actualizing critical beliefs and values within their communities."

And she continues (loc. cit.: 77): "Sogo bo did not originate with the Bamana, but with the Bozo fishermen. By the late nineteenth century, however, Bamana within Segou began to adopt the masquerade theater and throughout the last century it flourished in these farming communities. Within Segou, people's sense of the Sogo bo regional identity and its uniqueness as a genre is based upon perceptions of its origins within Segou; its pan-ethnic endorsement; its close identification with local youth associations; and the particular constellations of expressive forms and dramatic characters that are considered unique to the theater. [...] The theater is organized into a series of discrete masquerade sequences that are punctuated by short intervals of song and dance. Each sequence consists of a single dramatic character [...]. In most communities the masquerades are voiceless and are accompanied by drumming and by songs performed by a lead singer and women's chorus."

For a closely related head collected in situ by F.-H. Lem between 1934-35 and previously in the collection of Helena Rubinstein see Lem (1948: pl. 13), Slesin (2003: 107) and Sotheby's Parke-Bernet, The Helena Rubinstein Collection, April 21, 1966, lot 66.