Bambara - Lot 3

Bambara Couple of ci wara crests Mali Wood H. 69 & 83.5 cm Provenance : Pierre Harter Collection, Paris Galerie 62 (René et Maud Garcia) Paris, 1970-1980 Stéphane Kurc Collection, Paris The Bambaras, a Mandingo people settled mainly in Mali, structured their social and religious life around six initiation societies. their social and religious life around six initiation societies. These set the pace for the men's journey through various rites of passage, often accompanied by zoomorphic masks specific to each stage. The fifth of these societies, known as tji wara or ci wara, paid tribute to the fertility of both the land and the community and the community, through ceremonial dances. During these rituals, the headdresses were worn in pairs in pairs, one representing the male solar principle, the other the female earth principle. In this spirit, the relationship between use and aesthetics is clearly seen in the stylized representations of the of the antelope pair from the Kurc collection. Reduced to the essentials, they rest on a rectangular base that was once attached to the costume, making them barely visible during dance performances. performances. Imposing and finely sculpted, the two elements of the couple feature geometric motifs and a deep patina testifies to their repeated use over time.