Mémoire d’Afrique — Ref. 314
Horseman puppet — Sogo bò — Bambara, Mali — African tribal art — Ref. 314
Unavailable
Description
This puppet represents a hieratic horseman mounted on a caparisoned horse, holding a spear. It belongs to the Sogo bò tradition, the puppet theatre specific to the Bambara of Mali, used during ritual and secular performances combining satire, moral education and historical memory. The horseman, with articulated movable arms, wears a white conical cap and a hand-sewn traditional fabric costume, on a sculpted wooden structure painted in bright colours, yellow, grey, black and white. The horse has a long stylised muzzle decorated with dots, a saw-tooth mane, upright ears and a segmented tail. The whole evokes knightly figures or war chiefs, celebrating power, bravery or nobility. Complete puppet in good condition, with some traces of use, particularly at the spear. Reins and stirrups damaged. Piece animated by strings during performances.
Technical details
- Availability
- Unavailable
- Type of piece
- Mobilier
- Category
- Traditional furniture
- Ethnic group
- Bambara
- Country
- Mali
- Materials
- wood, fabric
- Dimensions
- H 75 × W 20 × D 95 cm
- Weight
- 3,7 kg
- Estimated dating
- second half 20th c.
- Restoration / losses
- Reins and stirrup restored
- Laboratory test
- Not tested
- Reference
- 314