STATUE, BAMANA MALI

René Rasmussen, Paris.
René Van der Straete, Brussels, c.1959.
Hélène and Henri Kamer, Paris and New York.
The Verheyleweghen Collection, Brussels, 1963.
Hélène and Philippe Leloup, Paris.
The Dandrieu-Giovagnoni Collection, Rome, 2007.
Sotheby's Paris, 30th November 2010, lot 82.
A private collection, Paris.

Art d'Afrique dans les collections belges, Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale, Tervuren, 29th June – 30th October 1963.
Bambara, Galerie Leloup, Paris, June 2000.
Africa, la figura imaginada, Fundacio «La Caixa», Palma, June – August 2004; Centre Social, Tarragonna, September – November 2004; Sala Municipal d’exposicions l’Almodi, Valencia, November 2004 – January 2005; La Longa, Saragossa, February – April 2005.
Arts of Africa. 7000 ans d'art africain, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, 16th July – 4th September 2005.
Archétypes, Galerie Dimeo, Paris, 12th-16th September 2007.

Albert Maesen and Huguette Van Geluwe, Art d'Afrique dans les collections belges, Tervuren, 1963, p. 20, no. 123 (not illustrated).
Hélène and Philippe Leloup, Bambara, Paris, 2000, p. 84, no. 31.
Alberto Costa, Africa, la figura imaginada, Palma, 2004, p. 74, no. 13.
Ezio Bassani, Arts of Africa. 7000 ans d'art africain, Monaco, 2005, p. 207, no. 82a.
Chantal Dandrieu and Fabrizio Giovagnoni, Archétypes, Paris, 2007, pp. 2, 9, 14-21.
Egidio Cosse and Jean-Louis Paudrat, Passion d'Afrique, Milan, 2009, p. 115, no. 66.

Good condition overall. Wear consistent with age and use within the culture. Cracks and losses with areas of erosion due to age and exposure to the elements. Beautiful nuances of the dry patina. As visible on the catalogue picture the left arm is missing. Carbon-dated (C14) to the fifteenth or sixteenth century (ASA No. 11-24-26)
"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."

A key figure of the Jo, this statue is "the embodiment of the soul of the female entity at the root of the creation of the initiatory practices that organise society and maintain social order" (Jean-Paul Colleyn, Bamana, Un art et un savoir-vivre au Mali, Zurich, 2002, p. 154). Created to reveal the values borne by the Jo and the Bamana beauty canons, it evokes not only the status of the female founder of the cults and associated beliefs, but also that of the mother and accomplished woman.

The figure is depicted standing, with its bust and neck held high, and its head bearing a coiffure akin to the cap worn by the priests of the Jo - thus adding to its sacredness; the baba ka kulusi jala belt, worn by women of high standing as a mark of their status and of the many children they have borne, is fastened over its hips. The face, with its barely suggested features, adds to the figure's ethereal balance. Its eroded aspect "symbolizes the appearance of the body of a generation of Jo initiates: a generation of men with hardened bodies, seasoned by the first harsh experiences [...] the long initiatory period, who need water [...] to be reborn, to come to life again, in order to revitalize the society they will integrate" (Salia Malé, Doctor of Ethnology, Research Director, personal communication, September 2010).

This erosion demonstrates the great antiquity of the sculpture - dated by C14 to the 15th or 16th century - and the many ritual outfits with which it was honoured as an image of the ideal, fertile woman "at her highest degree of physical attraction" (Kate Ezra, Figure Sculpture of the Bamana of Mali, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1983, pp. 11-12). The figure is pared down to its intimate spiritual essence and the passage of time has softened its forms, revealing the austere and tender beauty of "extraordinary and marvellous things, things to look at without ever tiring of them" (Kate Ezra, A Human Ideal in African Art – Bamana Figurative Sculpture, Washington D.C., 1988, p. 22). This figure - a commanding representation of the power of the revered female entity - is an illustration of the extreme refinement of Bamana art within this rare corpus of works dated between the 13th and 17th century.