Mali — Bandiagara Plateau region
13th–15th century
Wood
Height: 11½ in (29.2 cm)
Provenance: B. Turbang, Paris
This figure belongs to the Djennenke sculptural tradition, a pre-Dogon style associated with the population of the region southwest of the Bandiagara cliff prior to Dogon settlement after 1500 AD. Scholars including Leloup and Grunne have established close stylistic and iconographic links between these wooden figures and the terracotta sculptures of the Djenne region, identifying shared morphological features — elongated body, thin nose, protuberant eyes, and tegumental scarifications — as markers of a single cultural tradition expressed across two materials. The figures are believed to have been carried into the caves of the Bandiagara Plateau for concealment when the Djenne Empire was invaded by the Songhay in the fifteenth century, and their survival owes to the stable, dry, insect-free conditions of those practically inaccessible cave sites, rediscovered by French anthropologist Marcel Griaule in the 1930s.
This figure displays the elongated vertical form, folded arms, rounded abdomen, and surface scarification characteristic of the type, with a heavy black encrusted patina consistent with the age and cave preservation conditions documented for this group. As Leloup notes, Djennenke wooden sculptures are rendered with a realism and virtuosity that distinguishes them from Dogon-Mande figures, and their stylistic affinity with archaeologically excavated Pondori terracottas provides the basis for their dating and cultural attribution. The piece was formerly in the collection of B. Turbang, Paris.
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Mali — Bandiagara Plateau region
13th–15th century
Wood
Height: 11½ in (29.2 cm)
Provenance: B. Turbang, Paris
This figure belongs to the Djennenke sculptural tradition, a pre-Dogon style associated with the population of the region southwest of the Bandiagara cliff prior to Dogon settlement after 1500 AD. Scholars including Leloup and Grunne have established close stylistic and iconographic links between these wooden figures and the terracotta sculptures of the Djenne region, identifying shared morphological features — elongated body, thin nose, protuberant eyes, and tegumental scarifications — as markers of a single cultural tradition expressed across two materials. The figures are believed to have been carried into the caves of the Bandiagara Plateau for concealment when the Djenne Empire was invaded by the Songhay in the fifteenth century, and their survival owes to the stable, dry, insect-free conditions of those practically inaccessible cave sites, rediscovered by French anthropologist Marcel Griaule in the 1930s.
This figure displays the elongated vertical form, folded arms, rounded abdomen, and surface scarification characteristic of the type, with a heavy black encrusted patina consistent with the age and cave preservation conditions documented for this group. As Leloup notes, Djennenke wooden sculptures are rendered with a realism and virtuosity that distinguishes them from Dogon-Mande figures, and their stylistic affinity with archaeologically excavated Pondori terracottas provides the basis for their dating and cultural attribution. The piece was formerly in the collection of B. Turbang, Paris.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
