SNK 1212-18 – SOLD

Senufo Figure, Ivory Coast

H: 21,5 cm (8,5″), W: 5 cm (2″), D: 5 cm (2″)

This finely carved figure comes from the Senufo people. Senufo figures vary a great deal, but nevertheless can be identified by their heart-shaped faces, arrowshaped noses and crescent coiffures. Their height varies from 15 to 120 cm. This female figure might have been used in divination acts concerned with the evocation of harmony between conflicting forces. The Senufo produce a rich variety of sculptures, mainly associated with the poro society, to which all adult men belong and which maintains the continuity of historical traditiont. A woman’s association, the sandogo, in charge of divination, is responsible for contact with the bush spirit who might be bothered by the activities of the hunt, farming, or of artisans.

Provenance: Private Danish collection. It was either acquired directly from Lau (Laurence) Sunde’s collection in Copenhagen, which dates back to the 1940s, or Lau (Laurence) Sunde was an adviser to the collector.
Sunde had a “Etnografica” boutique in 1948, that became recognized among collectors as the most specialized boutique of its kind at the time. Tribal and oriental artefacts were purchased from private collectors as well as at auctions in Paris, Amsterdam and London, among other places.

Full description of Lau (Laurence) Sunde will be forwarded by request.

Click here for more information about the Senufo people

Request price for Senufo Figure