Bambara forms the biggest ethnic group of Mali.The
bambara kingdom was founded in the XVIIth century, during the
reign of N'golo Diarra, in which is allocated the conquest of the
peul people and of cities of Djenné and Tombouctou.The bambara society is, for the biggest part, structured around six masculine societies, known as Dyow (sing.Dyo).
Stylistic variations are very numerous in the bambara art.This item belongs to a group called Dyonyeni (or Jonyeleni), probably linked
to the southern Dyo (Jo) societyor to the Kwore society.These female or hermaphrodite statues have rather geometric features and especially big breast, and measures between 40 and 85 cm high.They
are appreciated by the collectors for their plastic power and the
presence of fine details, such as the scarifications or the dynamism of the stature.The blacksmiths of the Dyo societies used them during dances celebrating the end of their formalities of introduction.They were manipulated and put inside a ceremonious circle.These statues are sometimes sculpted with only one leg to allow an easier insertion in the soil.
The Jo society uses two types of statuettes :Jomooni
(« soul of Jo ») representing a sat woman carrying a
child on the knees and Jonyeleni, representations of the woman at the
first origin of Jo.These
statuettes are the realisation of the soul of the female entity which
is at the origin of the creation of the initiatory practices which
organise the society and support social order.Reminding
of the girl in her ideal state, they participate, during the seven-year
introductions, in the demonstration of stocks of Jo.This item, representing a woman standing carrying a container, is remarkable by the delicacy of incisions, but also for the movement of the arms,
according to the curve of its body.
BACQUART J.B, L'art tribal de l'Afrique noire , Paris, Editions Assouline, on 1998 (copy page 65, past for sale to Sotheby' s)
Salia Mr, introduction as ritual of passage :Jo and Gwan, in Bamana, an art and a politeness in Mali, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, on 2001, p.143
