16.
FEMALE FIGURE
Mende or Sherbro peoples, Sierra Leone Wood, iron. H. 23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm) Bequest of Victor K. Kiam. 77.153
Associations appear throughout the cultures of Sierra Leone and western Liberia, some of them widespread, like the Poro and Sande, others more restricted both geographically and in terms of eligibility for membership. They all are distinguished from one another by their possession of special sources of power (in Mende, halesia, usually translated as "medicines") and links with particular spirits. These power sources may be physically represented in a number of different ways, one of which is the carved female or male figure. The ringed neck, ridged hairstyle, and diamondshaped face of this example, with its high forehead and eyes, and its nose and mouth confined to the lower half of the diamond, clearly place it stylistically as coming from southern Sierra Leone. Generally speaking, figures and masks in this style tend to be attributed to the Mende, the largest ethnic group in Sierra Leone. Such figures are usually called minsereh, and are said to be associated with curing illness, especially mental illness. Among the earliest figures collected in Sierra Leone are a group now in the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, acquired before 1900 by the British colonial officer T. J. Alldridge and described in his book The Sherbro and Its Hinterland (1901). Alldridge also describes a Sherbro association identified as the Yase, or Yassi, whose principal function was the cure of physical and mental disorders. The Yassi society still survives among the Sherbro. The figures it uses are called minsereh, and in Alldridge's time, he writes, female leaders of the Yassi society used them in divination. As a result of this single source, virtually all figures from the region have subsequently been called minsereh and associated with the Yassi. At the same time, however, they are usually attributed to the Mende, whose language is unrelated to that of the Sherbro and who do not use either the term "Yassi" or "minsereh."
The Mende, however, do have an association, the Njayei, that is very similar to the Yassi society, and this association keeps pairs of figures, male and female, known as lomba and kambei respectively (Hart 1993:52). Such figures are said to represent both deceased members of the association and in some sense the association's ancestral spirits, possibly the original founders of the local chapter (ibid.). The use of figurative cculpture within sacred societies is only documented for the Yassi and Njayei. Neither society is found in every village, however, and it seems unlikely that all of the figures found in this region were associated with one or the other of these societies. In fact at least some examples are known of chiefs or prominent female elders keeping similar figures as symbols of their role in "protecting" the women's societies. The attribution of figurative sculptures such as this one, then, is complicated in terms of both their origin and their function. The Mende and their near neighbors the Bullom, Sherbro, Krim, Cola, and Vai all share the same cultural institutions and carve in the same general style. In fact, Mende informants often say that the Mende learned to carve in this style from the Sherbro. As a result, carvings from individual workshops are usually far more distinctive than are the divisions based on ethnicity. This particular figure shares certain attributes with the figurative carvings on several Sande-society masks that incorporate pairs of figures: the rather "cubistic" treatment of the legs, the cylindrical body, the cone-shaped breasts, and the tubular arms. Unfortunately there is no collection data for any of these pieces so it is still unclear whether they are Mende or Sherbro. In short, without specific collection data it is impossible to tell exactly where these intriguing pieces were made or exactly how they were used. WILLIAM SIEGMANN
RESONANCE FROM THE PAST
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED
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