Mali - Statue - Mali (No reserve price)

Masque Ci wara Bamana

The fifth initiatory society of the Bambara, Bamana, is named tyiwara (ci, to cultivate, wara, beast) and is still practiced today in a few villages.

These crest-masks evoking the antelope, oryx or dagé hippotrague depending on the case, come in vertical and horizontal forms. Presented to the public in pairs, male and female, the mask bearers adopt a symbolic choreography related to agriculture. The stylized antelope, whose name Ci wara or Sogoni kun means "beast of the earth" rises vertically from a pedestal, its offspring on its back.

The nyamakala artisan groups, more specifically the blacksmiths called numu, are responsible for sculpting the ritual objects, endowed with nyama, occult energy. Using fire and magical objects, the role of healer and diviner is also attributed to them. Their powers are transmitted to their wives, who alone