Chiwara Female Antelope

CLOSE UP

Place of Origin: Bambara, Mali
Dimension: 29.5" long
Year: ca. 1925
Material: Wood, fabric, iron

The Bambara of Mali are the most important of the Mandigo speaking peoples of the western Sudan. Agriculture and it's religious supports play a dominant part in their life and inspired their formerly rich (but now increasingly commercialized) sculpture. They carved many highly stylized figures and frontal masks of the highest quality, their forms doubtless influenced by the fact that the sculptors were also the smiths of the tribe. But they made a great and absolutely distinctive contribution to African art--the chiwara, or antelope headdress, used in rites re-enacting