Bwa Buffalo Head Statuette, Burkina Faso

One of a kind representation of a character with the head of a buffalo and a very stylized anthropomorphic body. The volumes are summed up in their essential forms, firmly inscribed in space. The sculpture is very eroded at the back and at the top of the head and we can assume the existence in the past, of a circle representing the horns curved towards each other (example Bwa mask last photo). To this power of form is added the beauty of the geometric decoration engraved and enhanced with black, red and brown, in particular in the concentric lines of the eyes, the lines of the mouth projected forward and the herringbone cutout of the ears. This sculpture is part of the universe of myths which structure the spiritual life of the Bwa and if its precise origin and its use remain uncertain, the very deep wear of the wood associated with the old traces of polychromy attest to its very old age, most probably dating back to the first half of the XX^e century

GO TO THE VIDEO          GO TO THE CATALOG

Origin
Ex French collection