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BLANCHET & Associés
28
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Bamana ci wara crest, Mali, wood, hair, rope, H.
See original version (French)
28
-
Bamana ci wara crest, Mali, wood, hair, rope, H.
See original version (French)
Estimate €300 - €400
Voluntary lot
Description
Bamana ci wara crest, Mali, wood, hair, rope, H.34cmxW.18cm. The ci wara crest, with its abstract, zoomorphic composition, is one of the best-known works of Bamana art. They were once attached to woven fibre skullcaps designed to be worn on the heads of dancers. Ci wara literally means animal that scratches (the ground): these representations of the hippotrague (antelope) hark back to mythical times, i.e. primitive times, when the animal is said to have offered the first seed and taught the Bamana men how to work the land. These ci wara headdresses were mainly danced during ritual ceremonies linked to the fertility of the fields and governed by the beginning and end of the agricultural cycle. This remarkable headdress abstractly combines the body of an antelope supported by an anteater: the latter's propensity to dig in the earth echoes the farmers' digging.
See original version (French)
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Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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