Description : Wood
Lobi people, Burkina Faso, circa 1910
Carved by Lobi master carver Lunkena Pale
Male figure in a seated position on a high stool with flexed legs and bent arms, holding a pipe in both hands
The face with arched brows above large crescent eyes with pierced pupils, broad nose and mouth, flanked by c-shaped ears
Fine old weathered and encrusted patina of use
Mounted on a metal base plate
Height: 58 cm
Provenance: Old European Collection
For a nearly identical figure by Lunkena Pale see a photograph depicting Pale in Gaoua, Burkina Faso holding one of his sculptures in Piet Meyer, Kunst und Religion der Lobi, Zürich 1981, p. 144, ill. 98.
According to Meyer this figure was carved by Lunkena Pale who worked with the famous Lobi sculptor Sikire Kambire. Bruno Claessens's noted authority on African Art surmised this style of figure is most likely a portrayal of Colonel Lerousique, a French medical officer who served in Bobo-Dioulasso and Gaoua, Burkina Faso from 1910 to 1930. The doctor was immortalized by several Lobi carvers as a type of shrine figure known as 'bateba Lerousique', showing him sitting on a high chair and smoking a pipe (see: Christopher D. Roy and Thomas G.B. Wheelock, Land of the Flying Masks. Art and Culture in Burkina Faso. The Thomas G.B. Wheelock Collection, Munich/Berlin/London/New York 2007, p. 74).
For a comparable example see Sotheby's, Paris, June 11, 2008, lot 90.
Literature:
Cf. Giovanni Francesco Scanzi, L´art traditionnel Lobi, Bergamo 1993, p. 139, ill. 99, p. 127, ill. 85
Cf. Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, Lexikon Afrikanische Kunst und Kultur, Munich/Berlin 1994, p. 251
Condition:
The figure shows distinctive signs of age and weathering. There are abrasions and cracks. The right arm is missing. The head and lower section with losses due to insect damage. The face is well-preserved. The height measures 58 cm. Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance.
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