Bankoni terracotta sculpture depicting a woman preparing shea butter from shea nuts, Mopti region, Mali. Incl. stand. An anthropomorphic terracotta sculpture depicting a kneeling woman preparing shea butter. Her two long, straight arms rest firmly on the ground, with her fingers flat against the base. Her torso and back form a taut, elongated diagonal line, projecting her head forward and upward. Her face features relief-modeled features and a profile projected forward. Her hairstyle or headdress rises to a point at the top of her head. The arms are adorned with multiple overlapping bracelets modeled in relief, forming thick bands around the forearms. A thick, bead-shaped necklace or pectoral ornament encircles the base of the neck and extends slightly down over the upper chest. This sculpture shows similar traces of a tradition of figurative representations in cast metal and fired clay from the 14th and 15th centuries. Other sculptures in the "Bankoni style" have been found in the Bamana region in Bougouni and Diola. Specifically, the Bankoni style is a ceramic style that - along with the Djenne style - was the most important stylistic subdivision of the Mali Empire. The Djenne and Bankoni styles existed at the same time and the people of these two cultures lived around the cities of Djenne-Djenno and Bamako. Djenne and Bankoni sculpture are of great importance in the development of West African art styles. We find seated, standing and kneeling human figures, as well as equestrian and zoomorphic/anthropomorphic sculptures. Djenne pieces tend to be naturalistic, while Bankoni sculptures tend to have elongated proportions. We know almost nothing about their culture, apart from their apparent sophistication. These cultures were obviously highly socially stratified. We find there signs of distinction and wealth such as scarification, jewellery, horses and prestige objects, and the sculptures themselves. Lit.: Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler, Erde und Erz. 2500 Jahre Afrikanische Kunst aus Terrakotta und Metall, 1979, p. 62-69. "Traces of a fourteenth- and fifteenth-century tradition of figurative representations in cast metal and fired clay have been found at a number of sites in the Bamana region near Bougouni and Diola. Bankoni elongated figures, may be an artistic precursor to more recent Bamana wood sculptures devoted to similar subjects." Source: The MET Some of the information is generated by artificial intelligence and is based on published sources from the fields of ethnography, archaeology, and art history. The seller guarantees and can prove that the object was obtained legally. The seller was informed by Catawiki that they had to provide the documentation required by the laws and regulations in their country of residence. The seller guarantees and is entitled to sell/export this object. The seller will provide all provenance information known about the object to the buyer. The seller ensures that any necessary permits are/will be arranged. The seller will inform the buyer immediately about any delays in obtaining such permits. M*A*Z*1*5*6*4*6*