TELLEM Mali, region of Bandiagara h 32,5 cm Ritual... Lot 26

TELLEM Mali, region of Bandiagara h 32,5 cm Ritual figure Hardwood covered with a mixture of sacrificial substances that give this sculpture a greyish colour. The sculpture depicts an ancestral figure that rises in relief from a board that originally continued over its head.The human figure has a body that, in the central part, is separated in an arch shape and then re-joins towards the bottom. This is a rare detail that is found in other Tellem works.The vague image of a human body formed just from the head appears to emerge from the wood. PROVENANCE Former collection of Emilio Iogna, Milan Sculpture acquired by him in a gallery in Paris in the ‘50s; Former collection of heirs; Former private collection (2002)