Origin 1800 to 1999
A boli, a sacred power figure of the Bamana peoples of Mali, made and kept by the Komo association, one of the primary Bamana initiation societies of priests, elders and blacksmiths. A boli is built around a wooden or textile core and built up over time with successive layers of organic and mineral material, growing denser and more powerful with age and use in the association's hands. This specific object, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and dated to the 19th or 20th century, is a documented example of the form, standing in this atlas for a tradition of sculpture that is otherwise collective and largely anonymous by design.
Facts
Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectAn abstracted, often zoomorphic form rather than a portrait of any figure; boliw are read by scholars as accumulations and vessels of communal power rather than representations of a deity or ancestor. 2 Devotional FunctionKept and used by the Komo association, one of the Bamana men's initiation societies responsible for aspects of community life including agriculture, judicial process and rites of passage. A boli's specific ritual use is closed to outsiders. 2 Medium (class) Physical Form
MediumWood core with accumulated organic and mineral material 1 Origins
Origin Period Date of Creation Custody
Current LocationThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gallery 341 1 Current CustodianThe Metropolitan Museum of Art 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThis atlas describes and cites the object rather than reproducing a photograph of it, and describes only its documented physical form and general communal role, not any closed ritual practice associated with it. 2 Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Source Secret Sculptures of Komo: Art and Power in Bamana (Bambara) Initiation AssociationsPatrick R. McNaughton
Originated In
Source Boli (Power Figure), Bamana Peoples (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Sources
1. Boli (Power Figure), Bamana Peoples (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The Metropolitan Museum of ArtOriginated In: West Africa, Object record: CountryQuote, Originated In: West Africa, Object record: Country
Country: Central Mali
2. Secret Sculptures of Komo: Art and Power in Bamana (Bambara) Initiation Associations
Patrick R. McNaughton, Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1979catalogue record, medium/object-type descriptionQuote, catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A boli, a sacred power figure of the Bamana peoples of Mali, made and kept by the Komo association, one of the primary Bamana initiation societies of priests, elders and blacksmiths.
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