BSC01346

A male Rhythm Pounder - called Deblé - Ivory Coast, from the village Diawala, located between Korhogo and Ferkessedougou, about 20 km from the border to Burkina Faso. Once -100 to 200 years ago -the Bobo were the sculptors, which worked for the Senufo, because the Senufo appreciated the skillful work of this adjected ethnic group, which were less rich than the Senufo and therefore left certain works to the Bobo. According to the last owner this sculpture is about 80 to 100 years old and was carved from extremly heavy, hard Fatier wood (Senari) called "Lenge or Lenke wood" (in Bambara), Very fine touch patina on the neck and arms confirm a long-lasting use over several generations.

Condition report: several age-cracks and a missing piece of wood at the backside of the cylindrical base.

The most famous sculpture of this type of Rhythm Pounder of the quoted region from the borderdestrict between Ivory Coast and Mali is "the Emil Storrer Deblé from 1952", which is probably the top of elegance and skill in Senufo Arts and was sold several years ago for a very high price. the extremly shortened legs of this type of Senufo-Pounder - always without feet and dirtectly upraising from their cylindrical bases - is considered as the most archic form of design of these sculptures, which are playing a central function in the funeral ceremonies of the Senufo people.Gottschalk, 2002, 10ff."

Lit.: Till Förster, “Smoothing the Way of the Dead: A Senufo Rhythm Pounder,” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2005): 54ff., ill.; Förster and Homberger, Die Kunst der Senufo aus Schweizer Sammlungen. Catalogue Zürich, Museum Rietberg, 1988, 68ff.; Koloss, Hans-Joachim; Förster, Till, Die Kunst der Senufo, Elfenbeinküste, 1990. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, Abb. 12a+b.; Burkhard Gottschalk Senoufo. Massa und die Statuen des Poro, U. Gottschalk, 2002, 10ff."