Senufo Staff "Tefalipitya", Ivory Coast

A stunning Tefalipitya staff from the Senufo people. A very arty and voluminous carving of the body, Typical details for this carver is the slightly open mouth with carved teeth, large hands and feet with carved fingers and toes, the chin scarifications in relief and breasts carved out from the shoulders.

Ref: A very similar staff by the same carver sold at Sothebys Paris 30 November 2021, lot 137.

Provenance: From the Janine and Josef Gugler collection of African Art assembled between 1961 and the early 1970´s. Josef (Professor Emeritus in Sociology) and his wife Janine (Artist) visited Nigeria for a 15 month research project 1961 and started to buy African art. During the 1960´s they did many travels to different African countries and, while working there, collected a lot of traditional African art. A handful of objects were also acquired from private collections both in the United States and Europe. The Guglers donated 126 African objects to the UCONN Benton Museum of Art.

H. 147 cm, H. figure 28 cm

Price on request