Senufo Bird Figure, Côte d'Ivoire

Olivier Le Corneur, Paris
Gaston de Havenon, New York, acquired from the above by 1971
Baron Freddy Rolin, New York, acquired from the above
Arnold Herstand & Company, New York
Private Collection, New York, acquired from the above on September 24, 1985

Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., African Art: the de Havenon Collection, May, 1971
The Center for African Art, the Art of Collecting African Art, New York, May 13 - October 9, 1988

Warren M. Robbins, African Art: the de Havenon Collection, Washington, D.C., 1971, cat. no. 90

Very good condition overall. Nicks, chips, scratches, losses, and abrasions scattered throughout, consistent with use and age. Thin cracks in places. Losses to the base. A couple of broken and glued elements to the base and one part with a nail. The beak of the bird is broken and repaired in situ with iron staples and glued at first break. Fine patina with original pigments preserved in areas throughout, as visible in the catalogue illustration. Has stand.
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According to Kerchache, for the Senufo, the poro association '[...] is the pillar of communal life.  Responsible for the initiation and training of the young boys, it is aimed at shaping an accomplished, social man who is integrated into the collective; it aids his entry into public responsibilities.  [...] The Senufo believe in a god, Koulotiolo, creator of the world, a distant and inaccessible deity.  On the other hand, the mother of the village, Katieleo, regenerates the world and redeems humankind through the initiation rites of the poro. [...] A male villager who has not been initiated will be excluded from the village and will lose his rights as a citizen.' (Kerchache et al., eds., L'art africain, 1988, p. 512).

Garrard notes that 'in former times many of the men's secret poro societies in the Senufo region owned a large standing sculpture of a bird. This statue, kept in the sacred forest, was used in the rites for the admission of initiates to the final phase of training. It generally had a hollowed base, which permitted it to be carried on the head of an initiate. Some examples also have holes in the wings, through which cords were passed to steady the bird when carried. [...] Older Senufo [...] usually name it as sejen or fijen [...] a term that simply means "the bird".  The significance of this bird is indicated more clearly by two other names. It is sometimes called kasingele, "the first ancestor", which may refer either to the mythological founder of the human race or to the ancestral founder of the sacred forest.  Alternatively, it is named poropia nong, which means literally "mother of the poro child".   The statue is thus a primary symbol of the poro leadership, indicating the authority of its elders.' (Garrard in Phillips, Africa: the Art of a Continent, 1995, p. 457).

The morphology of these rare statues references both male and female characteristics, with the swollen, pregnant belly, and the elongated phallic beak.  A related figure is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1979.206.176).