GENERAL DESCRIPTION
This tall female figure with short legs and feet sunk into a heavy cylindrical base is adorned with incised symbolic marks on her chest. Clusters of snail shells, cowrie shells, and red abrus seeds originally adorned her coiffure, upper arms, and abdomen. She represents an ideal adult female—someone who was married, a mother, and who was initiated into the women-only Sandogo society.
Pairs of rhythm pounders are used in funerary rituals that initiate male elders into the society of ancestral spirits. At the conclusion of the ritual, the corpse is carried to the cemetery. Each man carries a figure by its arms, neck, or shoulders. They swing the figures from side to side and periodically strike them against the ground in time with the music of the funeral orchestra, hence the popular name “rhythm pounder.” This action encourages the ancestral spirits to continue to participate in the funeral rites.
Adapted from
- Roslyn A. Walker, Label text, Arts of Africa, 2015.
NOTES
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PROVENANCE
n.d.: Merton Simpson, New York
By 1966: Gustave and Franyo Schindler Collection [1]
1974: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Gustave and Franyo Schindler Collection of African Sculpture [2], [3]
[1] Exhibited at Museum of Primitive Art in the exhibition "Masks and Sculptures from the Collection of Gustave and Franyo Schindler", 1966: cat. no. 15.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
[3] Gift of the McDermott Foundation in honor of Eugene McDermott
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
Curator Roslyn Walker discusses this female figure, 12937158: UMO
IMAGE ASSETS
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ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
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apply to objects where number equals 1974.Sc.15
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General Description
This tall female figure with short legs and feet sunk into a heavy cylindrical base is adorned with incised symbolic marks on her chest. Clusters of snail shells, cowrie shells, and red abrus seeds originally adorned her coiffure, upper arms, and abdomen. She represents an ideal adult female—someone who was married, a mother, and who was initiated into the women-only Sandogo society.
Pairs of rhythm pounders are used in funerary rituals that initiate male elders into the society of ancestral spirits. At the conclusion of the ritual, the corpse is carried to the cemetery. Each man carries a figure by its arms, neck, or shoulders. They swing the figures from side to side and periodically strike them against the ground in time with the music of the funeral orchestra, hence the popular name “rhythm pounder.” This action encourages the ancestral spirits to continue to participate in the funeral rites.
Adapted from
- Roslyn A. Walker, Label text, Arts of Africa, 2015.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
n.d.: Merton Simpson, New York
By 1966: Gustave and Franyo Schindler Collection [1]
1974: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Gustave and Franyo Schindler Collection of African Sculpture [2], [3]
[1] Exhibited at Museum of Primitive Art in the exhibition "Masks and Sculptures from the Collection of Gustave and Franyo Schindler", 1966: cat. no. 15.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
[3] Gift of the McDermott Foundation in honor of Eugene McDermott
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
Curator Roslyn Walker discusses this female figure, 12937158: UMO
rules
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Objects
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1974.Sc.15
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