231042 - Antique Terracotta Djenne statue - Mali

Antique Terracotta Djenne statue - Mali.
This superb and highly characteristic statue measures 26 cm high.This Djenne statue was collected in my private collection in 1991.

Djenné, capital of the Circle of the same name, located 130 km southwest of the regional capital Mopti and about 570 km northeast of the national capital Bamako, is one of the oldest cities in sub-Saharan Africa. Inhabited since 250 BC. J.-C. the site of Djenné developed into a market and an important city for the trans-Saharan gold trade. In the 15th and 16th centuries the city was a center for the spread of Islam. Characterized by an intensive and remarkable land use, especially in terms of architecture, the city is famous for its mosque, its civil structures, its monumental houses with carefully composed facades and its urban fabric. The traditional dwellings, adapted to seasonal flooding, are built on small hills, where the annual flooding of the Niger and its tributaries is an essential natural phenomenon both in the Djenné region and in the entire interior of the delta.