Boli, Bamana, Mali

Antoine Ferrari de la Salle, Abidjan, 1989
Collection Lionel Sergent

Good condition overall. Wear consistent with age and use within the culture: losses, chips and cracks, as visible in the catalogue illustration. Exceptional thick and crusty dark brown patina due to the extended ritual use of the object.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Les grands buliw (sing boli) du Kono sont rares. Ce Watikara, boli principal du culte, s'impose également par le mouvement du quadrupède exprimant, dans son élan retenu, le processus de sa lente métamorphose.

Né de l'amalgame de matières actives soigneusement choisies et de l'écoulement du sang sacrificiel, le boli répond à une conception éminemment complexe, résultant de "compromis entre les procédés divinatoires inspirés des traités arabes et de protocoles locaux " (Colleyn, 2009 : 45). Figurations du sacré, la signification des buliw nous échappe, tout comme, "aux yeux des adeptes, il est parfaitement vain d'essayer de définir clairement une puissance dont la force est précisément de revêtir des formes multiples, de se défigurer et de se refigurer sans cesse" (Colleyn in Snoep, 2009 : 37).

L'esthétique du boli, ignorant nos modes de classification, participe de l'indéfinissable. L'enthousiasme primitiviste qu'il suscita auprès des Surréalistes naît dès 1933, avec la publication, dans Le Minotaure, du célèbre boli volé deux ans plus tôt par les membres de la mission Dakar-Djibouti. Il ne se dément pas. Le boli fascine et émeut singulièrement.

cf. Colleyn et Levy (2009 : 17 et 135) et Sotheby's (Paris, 16 juin 2010, n° 47) pour un boli comparable.

Bamana boli, Mali

Large Kono buliw (sing boli) are rare. This quadraped Watikara, the principal boli of the Kono society, displays the slow process of metamorphosis through its seemingly arrested sense of movement.

Born from an algamation of carefully selected active ingredients, and from the flow of sacrificial blood, the boli responds to a highly complex design, resulting in a "compromise between the divinatory methods inspired by arab treatises and local protocol" (Colleyn, 2009: 45). A figuration of the sacred, the meaning of buliw escape us all and in "the eyes of followers, it is perfectly futile to try to clearly define a power whose strength lies precisely in the fact that it can take on multiple forms, to deform and refigure without ceasing" (Colleyn in Snoep, 2009:37).

The aesthetic of the boli ignores our modes of classification and thus becomes part of the indefinable. The primitivist enthusiasm which they generated amongst the Surrealist began in 1933 with the publication in Le Minotaure of the celebrated boli stolen two years earlier by members of the Dakar-Djibouti mission. It can not be denied that the boli strangely moves and fascinates.

cf. Colleyn and Levy (2009 : 17 and 135) and Sotheby's (Paris, 16th June 2010, n^o 47) for a comparable boli.