Tribal Art

Bamana Ci Wara (N° 24444)

Collection of African Belgian Tribal Art
Very popular with contemporary interior designers, the Ci Wara has become, in addition to a collector's item, an essential accessory for decorators who love sleek design. This one has a dark brown patina, having danced during the first half of the 20th century, forgotten at the bottom of a hut until 1988, it was collected by the collector in 1988 in Mali.
It would be an animal - genius called Ciwara who would have taught the Bambara to cultivate the land. The latter remember the myth through the stylized representation of an antelope antelope, whose name ci wara means "wild animal of the earth". Worn at the top of the skull and held in place by a kind of small basket, these crests accompanied the dancers during the rituals of the tòn, an association dedicated to agricultural work. The masks traversed the field while leaping in order to chase away from it the nyama, malevolent effluvia, and to detect any danger, or to flush out the malevolent genii who could delight the soul of the cultivated plants as well as the vital force of their seeds. Established in central and southern Mali, the Bambara, "Bamana" or "unbelievers", as the Muslims have called them, belong to the large Mande group, along with the Soninke and the Malinke.