Senufo Rhythm Pounder Guardian Sculpture, Ivory Coast #801

- Senufo Guardian sculpture, Ivory Coast

- This powerful, Senufo Guardian sculpture has an expressive shape. It comes from the region of Korhogo, Country Diamtènè.

- Reddish tomocre patina, traces of intensive ritual use.

- Measurements: 36cm

- Provenance Mohamed Belo Garba

The rhythm pounder (deble) from the Senufo people of the Ivory Coast was once a crucial prop in both
commemorative ancestral rites and in initiations of adolescents to adult society; it was also a benevolent symbol
of fertility and a conduit to the departed.

The few known male and female rhythm pounder pairs are thought to represent the primordial couple, referred to
as 'Pombibele', which means "those who gave birth.

Typically it is female figures are represented and it has been speculated that these single figures are one of a
pair, the location of the other being unknown. According to Anita Glaze (in Barbier, ed. 1993: 44), however, 'not
all funerary sculpture is commissioned as a pair, nor do all relatively large scale processional display figures
necessarily belong to the primordial couple category. A poro society may possess one or more single figures that
were initially commissioned as a result of a member's visionary encounter with spirits in dreams or while alone in
the fields.'

These pounders were traditionally used at funeral ceremonies for Poro society members. In some areas, they
are actually pounded, at others, they are gathered at the center of the ceremonial grounds.

Sources: Sotheby's, A History of Art in Africa

Rhythm pounders were used during funerary rites of the important Senufo poro secret society. Within the corpus of Senufo rhythm
pounders most of the known examples of exceptional style and refinement are generally considered to either originate in the northern
Senufo region, near Sikasso or the central region, near Korhogo, in the Ivory Coast.

A few male and female rhythm pounder pairs, thought to represent the primordial couple, are known (see Goldwater 1964 and
Gottschalk 2002 for other examples and discussion). Typically, though, female figures are represented and it has been speculated
that these single figures are one of a pair, the location of the other being unknown. According to Glaze (in Barbier, ed. 1993: 44),
however, 'not all funerary sculpture is commissioned as a pair, nor do all relatively large scale processional display figures necessarily
belong to the primordial couple category. A poro society may possess one or more single figures that were initially commissioned as a
result of a member's visionary encounter with spirits in dreams or while alone in the fields.'