From Africa to Quai Branly: Histories of the Collections
Equestrian figurine
BamanaMali, Ségou region, Ségou-Koro 19th century
Wood Gift of Mr Croll
Paris, Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Inv. 71.1933.57.3
Take a good look at this horseman. His size is rather surprising compared to the size of his mount, isn't it?
This is because the symbolic proportions in this representation follow the conventions of African statuary. The emphasis is on the head, which takes up a third of the total body height, as well as on the long neck, feet and oversized hands.
This style is characteristic of the workshop known as the “Master of Ségou”, named after the town of Ségou-Koro where it was active between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Ségou-Koro was the capital of the Bambara kingdom, which belonged to the Mande or Bamana peoples who now live in the south of present-day Mali.
According to various administrative documents, it was in this very region that Pierre-François Croll, brigadier general in the French Naval Infantry, travelled in the 1890s. During his travels, he apparently received the figurine from a local intermediary who was tasked with collecting such objects. The figurine thus arrived in France in Croll’s baggage, and in 1933 he gave it to the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro in Paris. This museum’s collections were later incorporated into those of Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.
Incidentally, did you know that, for many years, ownership of horses was reserved for the elite in West Africa? Why was this? Having been introduced to Africa via trade, horses were rare and valuable. Their exposure to the tsetse fly considerably shortened their lifespan, and it was therefore costly to own them.