Bamana Male Antelope Headdress (Chi wara), Mali

Gaston de Havenon, New York
Sarah de Havenon, New York, by descent from the above

Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., The de Havenon Collection: African Art, 1971

Warren M. Robbins, The de Havenon Collection, Washington, D.C., 1971, no. 39

Marks, nicks, scratches, abrasions, cracks, chips and losses consistent with age and use. Age crack to integrally-carved support with chipping and loss around proper right side. Adhesive under foot, with grey fill under proper right edge. Ears broken and glued. Horns broken with native repairs of resin fill and binding wire. Tail with a filled crack. Various aged dark brown surface with encrustation.
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According to Colleyn (2001: 201), "The famous Chi-wara antelope-headdresses, objects of a rare elegance, are among the world's best known pieces of African art."  The present sculpture, formerly in the collection of the pioneering New York collector and art dealer Gaston de Havenon, is of the ''vertical" Chi wara style, which typically appeared in male and female pairs.  The male form is inspired by the features of the roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus).

LaGamma (2002: 82) notes: "In Bamana culture, the male and female antelope personages [...] served as multifaceted metaphors for the elemental forces upon which all humanity depends.  [...] The male's majestic upward extension and the quivering energy and movement suggested by the openwork zigzag carving of his neck and mane invoke the Sun's corona and the full force of its radiance.  At the same time, it makes subtle reference to the sun's arced trajectory between the two solstices and to the darting movements of the roan antelope as it runs."