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Buffalo

9th–14th century
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
The bush buffalo figures notably in an essential episode of the Sunjata epic in which Kamissa, a shape-shifting sorceress from the land of Dô, transforms herself into a Buffalo Woman. Within the context of Mande symbolism and legend, any leader wishing to establish his authority and power over a landscape or waterway had to enter into a contract agreement with its guardian spirit, or baafaro, a composite water animal.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Buffalo
  • Date: 9th–14th century
  • Geography: Mali
  • Culture: Middle Niger civilization
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Dimensions: H. 9 × W. 5 × D. 13 1/2 in. (22.9 × 12.7 × 34.3 cm) (without stand)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Private Collection
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing