Lot n° 92
Estimation :
7000 - 10000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 9 100EUR
Boli fetish, Bamana, Mali - Lot 92
Boli fetish, Bamana, Mali
Wood, unctional material, feathers, composite material
Early 20th century
Length: 66 cm
Provenance: Merton D:
Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New-York
French private collection
Among the Bamana, nyama is an energy that permeates the universe, beings and objects, giving rise to the creation of ritual objects.
Boliw fetishes, linked to the Kono male initiation society, belong exclusively to their members, who acquire esoteric knowledge of the natural and spiritual world throughout their apprenticeship. The process of designing these powerful and impressive Boli involves a complex ritual performed by the leaders of the secret Jow initiation societies, using their knowledge of pharmacopoeia or "tree science" (jiridon). Around a wooden frame wrapped in white cotton cloth, a creature is fashioned from a mixture of earth and beeswax, the whole covered in clay and coagulated blood, recalling, according to Jean-Michel Colleyn, the "force of movement".
Colleyn, the "force of liquid movement inseparably linked to life. ("Images, Signes, Fétiches À Propos de l'art Bamana (Mali)", In Cahiers d'Études Africaines, 2009). The thick crusty patina covering the surface represents the power of the nyama, the boli acting as a receptacle for this ambiguous vital energy, oscillating between Good and Evil.
Like this power, "whose strength is to take on multiple forms, to constantly disfigure and re-figure itself" (ibid), boli's indistinct, shifting appearance contributes to its inherently elusive character. A veritable living system, its organic life cycle evolves slowly, as the sacrificial composite materials are anointed and poured. The general shape of the boli takes the form of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic creatures, as this piece suggests.
Our example, whose appearance resembles a quadruped with thick, bulbous volumes, is distinguished by the significant organic flow, a superb whitish discharge starting from the hump and extending along the curves of the sacred sculpture. The boli's thick sacrificial patina bears witness to its repeated use and age.
Closely linked to sacred rituals and processes, boli fetishes evolve over time, created as part of religious and magical practices that involve phases of preparation, activation and ritual manipulation, they bring protection, healing or prosperity to the community. As Colleyn explains
Colleyn, the boli "depends on who takes care of it: if it is neglected after being made, it produces no positive effects, causes disasters, then decays and dies. However, if the fetish object is feared, it can also fall into disrepair, be discarded or destroyed by means of a few rites of annulment. Sometimes, it is "forgotten" in a sanctuary that soon collapses, or returned to the society from which it was received.
Our sculpture, now removed from its cult context, is detached from its traditional function, and only the melancholy beauty conferred on the effigy remains. A singular work which, transcending all notions of temporality and space, captures the essence of the eternal.
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