This highly unusual bocio consists of two kneeling female figures, the lower one carved from wood, holding her breasts in an attitude of supplication, and the upper one cast in brass and proffering a large calabash-like bowl. They are bound together (both physically and psychologically) by a cloth strap wrapped over the legs of the top figure and under the chin of the lower one. The process of binding objects together is an important component of empowering the bocio figure. To further "energize" it, offerings -- which may include corn meal, blood, saliva, and urine -- are poured over it. Not only does the addition of these materials make the object more powerful, but this augmentation continually transforms the bocio's appearance as a work of art. The lower figure's face is obscured by sacrificial matter, and her mouth is sealed by a long iron chain, thereby blocking the ability to speak. Considered to be a potentially serious weapon, the act of speech is silenced, controlled by another. Iron attachments are often associated with Gu, the deity of iron and war, and are meant to drive away evil associated with physical force.
There are several types of bocio figures, including those associated with divination (Fa), and other types with royalty, with sorcery and anti-sorcery, and with the gods (vodun). All but the royal bocio retained their importance in the lives of Fon and Ewe people from Dahomey and present-day Togo whose dispersion due to the slave trade created a creolized version of bo in Haiti and later among Haitian ex-slaves in the United States. There cloth dolls performed protective and "attack" functions similar to carved bocio figures, and like them, were closely associated with the dead and with cemeteries. In Haiti it was the manbo (mother of bo) priestess and the bokor (knowledgeable in bo) priest who along with the hungan priest were responsible for their manufacture and for activating them ritually.]]>
The core of this bocio is a standing female figure carved in wood, but several other objects have been affixed to it. Bottles are fastened to the front and the back of the figure, a metal disk is nailed into the head, and skulls of a reptile, a bird, and a small mammal are bound to it. The bottles are plugged and may have once contained potent substances prescribed by a diviner. The process of binding objects together is an important component of empowering the bocio figure. To further "energize" it, offerings -- which may include corn meal, blood, saliva, and urine -- are poured over it. Not only do the addition of these materials make the object more powerful, but this augmentation continually transforms the bocio's appearance as a work of art.
There are several types of bocio figures, including those associated with divination (Fa), and other types with royalty, with sorcery and anti-sorcery, and with the gods (vodun). All but the royal bocio retained their importance in the lives of Fon and Ewe people from Dahomey and present-day Togo. The dispersion of these peoples during the slave trade created a creolized version of bo in Haiti and later among Haitian ex-slaves in the United States. Their cloth dolls performed protective and "attack" functions similar to carved bocio figures, and like them, were closely associated with the dead and with cemeteries. In Haiti it was the manbo (mother of bo) priestess and the bokor (knowledgeable in bo) sorcerer who, along with the hungan, were responsible for their manufacture and for activating them ritually.]]>
Divine Intervention: African Art and Religion, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 5 - December 4, 2011]]>
The core of this bocio is a standing female figure carved in wood, but several other objects have been affixed to it. Bottles are fastened to the front and the back of the figure, a metal disk is nailed into the head, and skulls of a reptile, a bird, and a small mammal are bound to it. The bottles are plugged and may have once contained potent substances prescribed by a diviner. The process of binding objects together is an important component of empowering the bocio figure. To further "energize" it, offerings -- which may include corn meal, blood, saliva, and urine -- are poured over it. Not only do the addition of these materials make the object more powerful, but this augmentation continually transforms the bocio's appearance as a work of art.
There are several types of bocio figures, including those associated with divination (Fa), and other types with royalty, with sorcery and anti-sorcery, and with the gods (vodun). All but the royal bocio retained their importance in the lives of Fon and Ewe people from Dahomey and present-day Togo. The dispersion of these peoples during the slave trade created a creolized version of bo in Haiti and later among Haitian ex-slaves in the United States. Their cloth dolls performed protective and "attack" functions similar to carved bocio figures, and like them, were closely associated with the dead and with cemeteries. In Haiti it was the manbo (mother of bo) priestess and the bokor (knowledgeable in bo) sorcerer who, along with the hungan, were responsible for their manufacture and for activating them ritually.]]>
Divine Intervention: African Art and Religion, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 5 - December 4, 2011]]>
The core of this bocio is a standing female figure carved in wood, but several other objects have been affixed to it. Bottles are fastened to the front and the back of the figure, a metal disk is nailed into the head, and skulls of a reptile, a bird, and a small mammal are bound to it. The bottles are plugged and may have once contained potent substances prescribed by a diviner. The process of binding objects together is an important component of empowering the bocio figure. To further "energize" it, offerings -- which may include corn meal, blood, saliva, and urine -- are poured over it. Not only do the addition of these materials make the object more powerful, but this augmentation continually transforms the bocio's appearance as a work of art.
There are several types of bocio figures, including those associated with divination (Fa), and other types with royalty, with sorcery and anti-sorcery, and with the gods (vodun). All but the royal bocio retained their importance in the lives of Fon and Ewe people from Dahomey and present-day Togo. The dispersion of these peoples during the slave trade created a creolized version of bo in Haiti and later among Haitian ex-slaves in the United States. Their cloth dolls performed protective and "attack" functions similar to carved bocio figures, and like them, were closely associated with the dead and with cemeteries. In Haiti it was the manbo (mother of bo) priestess and the bokor (knowledgeable in bo) sorcerer who, along with the hungan, were responsible for their manufacture and for activating them ritually.]]>
Divine Intervention: African Art and Religion, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 5 - December 4, 2011]]>
The statuette once part of the collection of Lord George Talbot (1763-1850) and was purchased by Georges Ricard for the Senusret Collection on 3 March 1975 from Roger F. Galliano, a member of the Conciliation Commission at Central Customs in Paris, certified expert of the Chamber of Auctioneers of France and Judicial Officer of Geneva.
[See additional images below]]]>
Senusret Collection: Usage and Reproduction Rights]]>
New York, Brooklyn Museum, 05.394
]]>
22.1 cm High x 5.9 cm x 11.2 cm]]>
The statuette was once part of the collection of Lord George Talbot (1763-1850) and was purchased by Georges Ricard for the Senusret Collection on 3 March 1975 from Roger F. Galliano, a member of the Conciliation Commission at Central Customs in Paris, certified expert of the Chamber of Auctioneers of France and Judicial Officer of Geneva.
]]>
Senusret Collection: Usage and Reproduction Rights]]>
London, The British Museum, EA29409]]>
19.3 cm High x 4.6 cm x 3.4 cm]]>
The statuette was once part of the Capitant collection and was purchased by Georges Ricard for the Senusret Collection on 21-22 May 1977 in Avignon, France at the Hotel des Ventes d’Avignon: Exceptionnelle grande vente aux enchères publique: Meubles, objets d’art, lot number 47.
]]>
Senusret Collection: Usage and Reproduction Rights]]>
Museum of Fine Arts Boston 53.2385
Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden AB 166]]>
13.5 cm High x 5.8 cm x 8.4 cm]]>
]]>
The goddess wears the Red Crown associated with lower Egypt, and strides forward with her left leg advanced on an integral rectangular plinth. She holds one arm at her side and the other stretched out before her. Each fist is pierced and once carried insignia. She wears an ankle-length dress and a delicately incised broad collar around her neck. The tip of the Red Crown and spiral wire are destroyed.
The statuette was once part of the Romanov collection and was purchased by Georges Ricard for the Senusret Collection from Roger F. Galliano, a member of the Conciliation Commission at Central Customs in Paris, certified expert of the Chamber of Auctioneers of France and Judicial Officer of Geneva. ]]>
Senusret Collection: Usage and Reproduction Rights]]>
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 05.94]]>
20.7 cm High x 4.3 cm x 6.9 cm
]]>
This upper part of a coffin lid is typical of cemeteries in and around the Faiyum in Egypt. Coffins are typified by the deceased wearing a flat-topped wig with broad stripes, a long beard, and a white coffin body decorated only with a collar.
The coffin face was purchased by Georges Ricard for the Senusret Collection on 31 March 1973 in Marseille, France at the Ventes aux enchères publiques en l’Hotel des ventes du Prado, lot number 193.]]>
Senusret Collection: Usage and Reproduction Rights]]>
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, no. 1995.94 ]]>
45.7 cm High x 31 cm x 12 cm]]>
The lower part of the lid has two columns of inscription. The text is Utterance 368 of the Pyramid Texts, reading: “words spoken by Osiris…. Your (mother) Nut (spreads herself) over you in her name….For you are the greatest of her children. Geb is gracious to you….He has given you your head….He has caused Thoth to reassemble you. . . "
Corn-mummies embody the forces of rebirth under the control of the god Osiris. The process of assembling grain and earth in the form of Osiris symbolizes the cosmic cycle of death and rebirth and its preservation.
The object was once part of the collection of Viscountess Elizabeth Dow Dalton from the early 20th century and was purchased by Georges Ricard for the Senusret Collection on 24 July 1974 from Roger F. Galliano, a member of the Conciliation Commission at Central Customs in Paris, certified expert of the Chamber of Auctioneers of France and Judicial Officer of Geneva.
[See additional images below]]]>
Senusret Collection: Usage and Reproduction Rights]]>
Centrone, Maria 2009. Egyptian Corn-mummies: A class of religious artefacts catalogued and systematically analysed (Saarbrücken: VDM), pp. 70-73, pl. XXXVII.
Parallels and References:
Cairo, Grand Egyptian Museum, 32685. Originally from Ashmunein.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 2001.547.1-2
Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum, Inv. No. 6/66
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 58.98 A-D
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 58.106 A-C
London, British Museum, EA 41552]]>
Mummy: grain, sand, clay and/or soil, resin, linen bandages; 11.9 cm High x 40 cm x 6 cm
Mask: wax, gold; 4.8 cm High x 17.4 cm x 7.7 cm]]>