Rhythm Pounder in the Shape of a Female Figure (Doogele or Poro Piibele)

late 19th–early 20th century

African Art

By appointment, Wurtele Study Center

This figure reflects self-control and containment, ideal behaviors and attributes of inner beauty rather than physical appearance. Paired female and male rhythm pounders were principally used during funerals. As the corpse was carried to the burial ground, elders would pound on the ground with the figures, ritually purifying the pathway for the deceased and calling ancestral spirits. Paired figures are emblems of marriage but may represent twins or primordial founding ancestors. Rhythm pounders are owned by a small subgroup of artisans, the Celibele, who make a living as rope makers and tanners.

Medium

Wood

Dimensions

40 15/16 × 8 7/8 × 5 7/8 in. (104 × 22.5 × 15 cm)

Credit Line

Charles B. Benenson, B.A. 1933, Collection

Accession Number

2006.51.60

Geography

Burkina Faso, or Mali, or Côte d'Ivoire

Culture

Senufo, Kulibele subgroup

Period

19th–20th century

Classification

Sculpture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Morris J. Pinto, Paris. Sotheby's, London, May 9, 1977; Charles B. Benenson Collection, Greenwich, Conn, 1977–2004; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.

Bibliography
  • Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi and Constantijn Petridis, Senufo Unbound: Dynamics of Art and Identity in West Africa, exh. cat. (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2014), 138, fig. 86
  • Frederick John Lamp, Amanda Maples, and Laura M. Smalligan, Accumulating Histories: African Art from the Charles B. Benenson Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2012), 58, 107, ill
  • Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 175, 381, pl. 158
  • Barkley L. Hendricks, "Acquisitions, July 1, 2005–June 30, 2006," in "Photography at Yale," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2006), 222
  • Till Förster, "Smoothing the Way of the Dead: A Senufo Rhythm Pounder," in "African Art at Yale," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2005), 54, ill
  • Susan Vogel and Jerry L. Thompson, Closeup: Lessons in the Art of Seeing African Sculpture from an American Collection and the Horstmann Collection, exh. cat. (New York: Museum for African Art, 1990), 135, fig. 62
  • Susan Vogel, African Sculpture: The Shape of Surprise, exh. cat. (Greenvale, N.Y.: C. W. Post Gallery, 1980), 12, no. 19, ill
  • Sotheby's, London, African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian Art from the Pinto Collection, sale cat. (May 9, 1977), 93, lot 134, front ill., ill
Object copyright
Copyright Undetermined
Additional information

Object/Work type

figures (representations)

Subject

women

Technical metadata and APIs

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