Tribal Art

Ex-collection African art Belgian
Rare and old Ti-wara, crest mask of African art.
Toque attached to a basketwork frame with cotton strips. It is surmounted by a sculpture depicting the body of an antelope. The head is missing. Clear patina of use, erosions and abrasions. Desication cracks.
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, whose name ci wara means "wild 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 drive out from this one the nyama, malefic emanations, and to detect any danger, or to flush out the malevolent genies who could ravish the soul of the cultivated plants as well as the life 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.