Senufo African Janus headrest, Bunjala Region, Ivory Coast. With fork legs inserted into a notch in the body and bound with a rope at one end and a band of rubber at the other, the long body with worn raised oval element for the seat, and baring at each end a lengthy neck with oval animal horse head, grooved upturned mouth, coffee bean eyes and deeply grooved ears, a metal spike inset in the crown of each; fine age encrusted brown patina. "This particular style of animal figure is found only in a very special area that is to say from Bunjali to Kuto in the Bague River Valley. This extremely rare janus figure is ceremonially associated with horses and power amongst the Do subtribe of the Senufo"
Length: 107 cm / 42 in Width: 22.5 cm / 9 in Height: 25.5 cm / 10 in
Ex: Paul William Knaupp Collection, Ex-Important Tribal Art, Sotheby's New York, November 21, 1996, lot 65.