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African & Tribal Art :
Bambara Sculptures : Bambara Wooden Guandousou Sculpture of a Mother and Child
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Bambara Wooden Guandousou Sculpture of a Mother and Child - FJ.1513DC
Origin: Central Mali
Circa: 19
th
Century AD
to 20
th
Century AD
Collection: African Art
Style: Bambara
Medium: Wood
$6,000.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
The African tribes, such as the Bambara,
preferred to think of the spirits of their ancestors
collectively rather than in terms of separate
individuals. This is the result of the animism that
underlies their religious beliefs. Such religious
beliefs have been termed animism because they
believed that a spirit exists in every living thing.
Spirits dwell in the earth, in rivers and lakes, in
the rain, in the sun and moon; still others
demand to be appeased in order to promote
fertility or cure disease. Their dwelling places
may be given the shape of human figures, such
as this glorious human figure of mother and
child. In this case, such spirits sometimes
achieve enough of a stable identity to be viewed
as rudimentary deities. This seems to be true of
the very fine mother and child figure from Mali.
She definitely represents the strongly revered
fertility spirits. The Bambara would dance and act
out similar dramatic ceremonies to appease this
deity in order to promote fertility. She wears a
helmet-like headdress and her long locks of hair
touch her predominant breasts. Her child is
nestled at her abdomen and the slight swelling
of her belly may represent another child on its
way. We feel the thrill of birth through this
spectacular figure and the great emotional
intensity of dances and ceremonies remains
imbued in the powerful appearance of this
carving today
- (FJ.1513DC)
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