A female Senufo Rhythm Pounder - Deblé

A female Senufo Rhythm Pounder - Deblé - standing on a tall cylindrical base, slender slightly bent legs, the abstract elongated torso with pointed navel surrounded by ornamental scarification patterns, rounded shoulders, the fragile arms terminating in stylized hands, resting in front of the abdomen, the cylindrical, thick neck supporting an oval face with a pointed chin, a small protruding mouth, the fascial plane with fine stylized features showing a high degree of abstraction, framed by a domed coiffure; fine brownish patina with significant traces of use inparticular at the arms, the neck and the fascial features, heavy, hard wood; collected in the border destrict of Mali and Ivory Coast, a fine example of the Senufo Southstyle.

According of Gottschalk, who tryed to make a typolgy of the Senufo Déblé these exemplares would be probably submitted to the group of the kulibèlè and not the fonombèlè.

"Während die ersteren (fonombèlè) entweder wegen mangelnder Fähigkeit zu feinerer Arbeit (the fonombèlè are the blacksmiths in the Senufo society) oder als bewußt eingesetztes Stilmittel die klaren und wuchtigen Formen, die kontrastierenden Waagerechten und Senkrechten weitgehend so beließen, wie sie bei der Festlegung der Proportionen entstanden waren, bemühen sich die kulibèlè (the traditional carver) um ein weiches Ineinanderfließen der Körperteile, soweit sie nicht den Stil ihrer älteren Brüder in ihre Arbeit aufnahmen oder ihn mehr oder weniger kopierten."Gottschalk Burkhard, "Senufo, Massa und die Statuen des poro" 2002: 43.

More realistic sounds the opinion of Glaze, who described the difficulties of a stylistic typology according of both ethnic groups after she did fieldwork around kufulo (region of Dikodougou) Glaze Anita J., "Art and Death in a Senufo Village", Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1981: 7.

1.200 - 1.800,- Euro

Height: 104 cm
Weight: 4,3 kg