Bambara Ci Wara Antelope Headdress - Early 20thC Material - Catalpa Wood From Shanxi Province

From Shanxi Province

The carved sunburst panels are particularly evocative

Hand-thrown in stoneware

at the foot of a bed

Bambara Ci Wara Antelope Headdress - Early 20thC Material - Catalpa Wood From Shanxi ProvinceThis beautifully carved headdress represents the Ci Wara, the male antelope mythical being of the Bambara (or Bamana) people of Mali. Ci Wara was half mortal and half animal and it is the belief that it was Ci Wara who first taught humans to cultivate and farm the lands around them. As humanity became more wasteful, legend has it that Ci Wara buried himself in earth. In memory of him, Bambara carve these headdresses which are power objects called boli