.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Allen Wardwell (op.cit.) writes: "My first encounter with the work of this Bambara master occurred in early 1960 when I purchased the example shown in fig.4 from the art dealer Mathias Komor. Several years later, Henri Kamer, a dealer in African art, told me that he had bought this antelope carving in Segou during the summer of 1959. In 1956 and 1957 the Museum Rietberg in Zurich purchased the male and female antelope pair shown in figs. 2 and 3 from Storrer who said he had collected them in the Minianka District. The fourth member of this group, in the collection of Maurice Bonnefoy of New York [the present lot], became known to me a few years ago but he is unable to recall when he acquired it. The group belong to the "vertical" style described by Robert Goldwater as coming from the western part of Bambara country in the area of Minianka (1960, p.16). The original location of this style region was established by F.H. Lem who collected a number of antelope headpieces in this area in 1934 and 1935. They became part of the Helena Rubinstein collection (e.g. lot 80 is no. 21 in Sudanese Sculpture, 1949).
The males share the following carving details: elongated horns that bend backward at the tip; spiral incised decoration on the horns up to the point where they bend backward; a band of parallel incisions and pokerwork designs on the forehead; an elongated face with a long sharp nose; parallel incisions from the forehead band to the mouth; pokerwork decorations at the base of the mane; small metal studs inserted at the eyes; a mane, the top and bottom elements of which are roughly triangular in shape, and the remaining forms having two points. All of them show evidence of considerable use. The patina is quite thick, with a smoky smell and oily quality that often accompanies some of the older Bambara carvings. It is probable that these antelopes were all made during the first quarter of this century.
The antelope sculptures by this master carver combine elegance, grace, dignity and power, all fitting tributes for the mythical being they represent, called Tji Wara, the beast who labors. He taught the Bambara the art of cultivation, and these carvings were worn attached to basket hats in dances prior to the clearing of a new field or at the beginning of the rainy season....I would suggest that he be named for the distinctive identifying characteristic: The Master of the Flying Mane."
The males share the following carving details: elongated horns that bend backward at the tip; spiral incised decoration on the horns up to the point where they bend backward; a band of parallel incisions and pokerwork designs on the forehead; an elongated face with a long sharp nose; parallel incisions from the forehead band to the mouth; pokerwork decorations at the base of the mane; small metal studs inserted at the eyes; a mane, the top and bottom elements of which are roughly triangular in shape, and the remaining forms having two points. All of them show evidence of considerable use. The patina is quite thick, with a smoky smell and oily quality that often accompanies some of the older Bambara carvings. It is probable that these antelopes were all made during the first quarter of this century.
The antelope sculptures by this master carver combine elegance, grace, dignity and power, all fitting tributes for the mythical being they represent, called Tji Wara, the beast who labors. He taught the Bambara the art of cultivation, and these carvings were worn attached to basket hats in dances prior to the clearing of a new field or at the beginning of the rainy season....I would suggest that he be named for the distinctive identifying characteristic: The Master of the Flying Mane."