This is the rating and price for Senufo Bird Figure Sejen Poropianong Ivory Cost African, mid 20th Century

Description : A well sculpted bird standing on a circular platform, with a long beak along the belly and the body covered with diamond motifs.  ,This is a , ,wonderful example of the complex and often overlapping nature of Senufo symbolic imagery. Among the Senufo people of Ivory Coast, large sculpted birds play an important role in their ritual and ceremonial life and by drawing upon a rich symbolic pool of images the Senufo make art a vital component of their life through a variety of forms and materials.  ,Birds figures serve as a major symbol for the men’s secret society known as Poro during initiations and at funerals for senior members. ,They were carried balanced on top of the head and held in place by bands of native woven cloth held in the dancer’s hands or tightly held by the legs.The bird is a motif well known among the Senufo as a symbol of fertility and an image of one of the five primordial creatures in Senufo creation mythology and a major symbol for initiations as it was called Kasingele, “the first ancestor’ or Poropianong, which literally means “mother of the Poro child (initiate)”.It was also called ‘sejen’, “an eagle” or simply the bird.Some Senufo myths also note that it was the first animal killed by man for food and was vital to the Senufo in their roles as farmers. Some sculpturesof a bird were attached to the top of a thin pole and waved over the young men as they broke the ground for planting.It was to honor the best, ‘champion cultivator’ of the young men.When a well-known farmer died the sejen or ‘eagle staff’ would be placed by his house during his funeral to honor him in death as well as when he was a ‘champion farmer’.This well sculpted bird-figure obviously was not mounted on a pole to be ‘flown’ over farmer’s heads but with aswollen abdomen and by the simple gesture of holding it’s breasts was a symbol of fertility and increase.It was most likely found in a shrine.In truth without knowing the specific use of the sculpted bird it is difficult to state its exact purpose. Recommended Reading: Glaze, A. “Art and Death in a Senufo Village”. 1981. Forster, T., Die Kunst Der Senufo, Museum Reitberg Zurich. 1988.I have examined this piece and agree wih the desription. Niangi Batulukisi, PhD.
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