RARE! Authentic Vintage Early 20thC Bambara/Malinke Janus-faced hand marionettes

Description

Authentic early 20th C Bambara/Malinke Janus-faced hand marionettes.
Truly remarkable authentic early 20th C Bambara/Malinke Janus-faced hand marionettes. Hand hammered brass on faces and other areas. A few cracks. From my personal collection. Rare. Sizes are 12 1/4” x 3” and 11 1/4” x 2 3/4”
The Bambara in the central savanna of Mali (just like their neighbours, the Malinke and Bozo tribes) have a varied, traditional ‘theater’, called ‘Sogo bo’, performed by the village youth with rod puppets. ‘Clothed’ rod puppets – both small and, sometimes, of very large size – are used in the villages, accompanied by music bands and singers, in order to enact moralising myths and fairy-tales, but also to tell stories with references to current events. For this purpose, marionettes are manufactured in human and animal forms, as well as in the guise of imaginary beings and spirits. The present, relatively large, female Bambara puppets have two all-seeing heads looking in diametrically opposed directions (‘Janus head’). Carved from hard, brown wood in the typical Bambara style.
Shipped with USPS Priority Mail