En bronze skulptur - Senufo - Elfenbenskysten (Ingen mindstepris)

A couple of ceremonial staffs in the style of the Senoufo's, Ivory Coast, sourmounted with female figure, made of bone and brass, incl. metal stand.

In Senufo artistic practice, ceremonial staffs function as material expressions of authority, ritual knowledge, and cosmological order. They are closely associated with the Poro society, the central male institution that regulates initiation, moral conduct, and the transmission of esoteric knowledge within Senufo communities of Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Within this context, the staff operates not merely as an emblem of rank but as an active ritual object through which social and spiritual power is exercised.

Ceremonial staffs are most often carried by elders and ritual specialists during initiations, funerary rites, agricultural ceremonies, and public processions. Their presence signals legitimate authority sanctioned by ancestral and spiritual forces. In ritual performance, the staff may be planted into the ground, held upright, or carried in measured movement, reinforcing its role as a conduit between the human realm and the invisible world. The vertical orientation of the staff emphasizes its symbolic function as a mediator linking earth, community, and ancestral domains.

Many Senufo staffs are surmounted by carved human figures, frequently female, whose calm demeanor and idealized proportions reflect core Poro values such as self-discipline, moral restraint, and continuity of life. These figures are not portraits but conceptual embodiments of ancestral presence and generative power. Through them, the staff becomes a vessel of memory and lineage, asserting the enduring authority of tradition over the present moment.

The tactile surfaces of ceremonial staffs, often darkened and polished through repeated ritual handling, attest to their sustained use and accumulated potency. This material transformation reinforces their status as objects activated through performance rather than passive works of art. In this sense, the staff participates in the regulation of social order, functioning as a visual and physical affirmation of ethical norms and collective responsibility.

Within Senufo art, ceremonial staffs thus occupy a liminal position between sculpture and instrument. Their significance lies not in aesthetic autonomy but in their capacity to make authority visible, to embody ancestral sanction, and to stabilize the moral and spiritual structure of the community through ritual action.

Susan M. Vogel (Hg.), For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1981.
(Grundlegend für Senufo-Skulptur, Autoritätsinsignien und Poro-Kontext)

Susan M. Vogel, African Aesthetics: The Carlo Monzino Collection, New York: The Center for African Art, 1986.

Anita J. Glaze, Art and Death in a Senufo Village, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981.
(Zentral für Poro-Rituale, funeräre Kontexte und rituelle Objekte)

Anita J. Glaze, “The Senufo Poro Society and Its Artistic Expression,” African Arts, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1977.

Patrick R. McNaughton, The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power, and Art in West Africa, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.
(Wichtig für regionale Konzepte von Macht, Ritual und Insignien, auch für Stäbe relevant)

Patrick R. McNaughton, A Bird Dance near Saturday City: Senufo Masquerades of West Africa, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008.

Marie Mauzé und Dominique Malaquais (Hg.), Senufo: Art et société en Afrique de l’Ouest, Paris: Musée du quai Branly, 2012.

Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (Hg.), Poro: Masques et sculptures d’Afrique de l’Ouest, Paris: Skira / quai Branly, 2010.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, African Art: The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982.

Frank Herreman (Hg.), Secrecy: African Art That Conceals and Reveals, New York / München: The Museum for African Art / Prestel, 2006.
(Relevant für geheime Gesellschaften und rituelle Insignien wie Stäbe)

MAZ9000

Height: 41 cm / 45 cm
Weight: 480 g / 490 g