Senufo large carved wooden hornbill bird statue. This vintage sculpture has some nice patina and is quite the statement piece. One of the wooden spikes on the top of the head is missing.
The Senufo are one of West Africa’s most important groups, and also one of the most productive in terms of artistic output. There are roughly 1.5 million Senufo people, living across the Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso. The Senufo are perhaps best known for their artworks, which reflect their complex social structures and belief system. Very large sculptures of kasingele (first ancestors) were sometimes commissioned by owners of yasungo – shrines on which offerings are made – and also as foci for dancing. Kasingele sometimes appeared in different form, namely as large geometric bird figures (sejen, or fijen) that are carried by initiates and which symbolise the authority of the Poro elders (katyleeo) over their juniors (poro piibele).
17.5ʺ wide, 16.75ʺ deep, 64ʺ high.
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