A senanbele equestrian fig - Lot 91

A senanbele equestrian fig Representations of horsemen (senanbele or tuguble) carved in wood or cast in metal embody ndebele bush genies, a spirit of nature here on his mount like an emissary. These sculptures are linked to divinatory rites. Their carving was ordered by the diviner, and they were destined for personal altars, but in this case, for the rarer wooden equestrian sculptures, for the diviner's altar. The horse is associated with speed, dignity and prestige, but also with violence and disorder, "having been used in pre-colonial times by warriors and slave thieves of whom the Senoufos were victims". The equestrian figure in the Jean Roudillon collection, which is particularly old and in a beautiful archaic style, deserves to be mentioned here in connection with an eminently important notion in Senufo culture, that of sityi, the "creative intelligence" provided by God. A notion whose evocation is all the more appropriate here as Senufo artists consider that they receive the impulse, their creative inspiration, directly from the ndebele nature spirits (bush genies), just as the diviner is a medium serving as a channel in contact with the ndebele who "see God" and use the ndebele as their emissary. Sénoufo, Ivory Coast Wood, very fine old oxidation, old and very fine patina. H. 25 cm See p. 30 to 53 for a chapter by Aniata Glaze on the religious and metaphysical foundations of Senufo art in: Arts de la Côte d'Ivoire Tome 1, Ed. Musée Barbier-Mueller Genève 1993 Provenance : Jean Roudillon Collection