Couple playing the Balafon

This highly important and rare sculpture depicts a pair of balafon players, side by side. The balafon, an archaic musical instrument, consists of strips of wood of varying lengths and thicknesses fixed to an oblong frame, dried gourds underneath the wood strips act as resonance boxes. The instrument is played with hammers, like a xylophone. Here, both figures are similar, a kind of cosmic couple or "twin" figures acting as entertainers. The surface is dark and very much encrusted by repeated sacrificial offerings.
Height: 18 inches (45.7 cm.)

DG013