This attractive stone sculpture of a man on a horse was made in the Sierra Leone or Guinea area by one of ancient Africa’s most shadowy and undefined groups, the Kissi (or Sapi Grebo – see below for clarification). The rendering is unusual – this is the first such piece that the current researcher has seen. The horse is elongated, comparatively squat, and lower to the ground in the hindquarters. It could be described as rigorously unanatomical. The human figure, which is seizing at the thick, hatched-design reins, is curved over to provide almost a hump-backed shape, and is glaring to the left of his mount. His proportions are roughly correct, although his facial features are more expressionistically rendered. The surface of the stone is relatively unblemished, and does not have a specifically dark patina.
The Kissi are strictly a language group that is spread across modern Sierra Leone, and includes other tribes such as the Bassa, Sapi, Temne, Toma and Grebo. The group, which technically also includes the Mende tribe, is known in art-history circles as the Sapi-Grebo. The Sapi kingdom used to include some of these tribes, but was subsumed under the Manes people in the 16th century. They, the Mende and the Sapi all have different ways of dealing with these figures when they appear, although they are important for each tribe. The modern tribes are mainly rice farmers, with vegetable gardens and some livestock (notably cows, which are considered as sacred, and reserved for sacrifices). Villages tend to be small, and run by members of the Poro society; a system of gerontocracy is also in operation. Most of the Kissi have converted to Christianity, but a notable proportion adhere to traditional belief that are centred around Pombo, Mahen Yafe and Nomoli figures, which are dug up in the fields and revered as ancestors (Pombo – the generic name for these items – literally means “the deceased”) or “rice gods”. These are wrapped up or concealed beneath houses, and are beaten with sticks to ensure a good harvest. This interesting habit means that many such sculptures are terminally damaged by the time they come to the attention of the western art market.
As the items are typically out of their context, little is known of the way they were carved and used by their original societies. It has been claimed that they are a localised offshoot of early Portuguese incursions into the area (15th – 16th century), but there is little stylistic or historic basis in fact to support this assertion. The Sapi kingdom may also have been involved in making of some classes of figure. The major distinctions between the figure are that the Mahen Yafe are primarily heads adorned with unusual facial hair and jewellery, while the Pombo (as called by the Mende) figures have crested hairstyles and filed teeth. The Nomoli are very much as depicted by the current piece, although they are sometimes bearded. The only ray of data regarding age is a radiometric date on a rare wooden piece that yielded a date between 1190 and 1394 AD.
The role of these pieces is, as stated, uncertain. The more ornate ones probably represent chiefs, while the less anthropomorphic probably represent spirits. Without more context, however, it is unlikely that further details will ever be obtained. The association with a horse, which is a marker of wealth and power in almost all cultures, makes some indication that the person portrayed (and perhaps the audience for which it was intended) were of a high status.
This is a powerfully-carved and unusual piece of ancient African art.