Low Bed with Two Crocodiles

Origin: Lobi Tribe, Burkina Faso
Composition: wood (one piece), pigment stain

This piece, remarkably carved from a single piece of wood, is thought to represent an African proverb, the meaning which we simply do not know at the time of this writing. There are many West African proverbs which use the crocodile, such as "a big broken log may stay in the water for an eternity and it still will not become a crocodile" (about things being exactly as they seem and not hoping for something to happen which will never occur), or the common visual of two crocodiles sharing the same body, thought to represent unity ("we are like crocodiles sharing the same body, if you separate us, we all perish"). The crocodiles joined at the mouth likely represent a proverb along these lines, meant to teach us about humility, or sharing, or again, about unity. These are common themes throughout West African proverbs. Whatever the exact meaning, the beauty, rarity, and quality of the piece makes it highly desireable. It was acquired on a field-collecting trip to Burkina Faso in 2007.

The Lobi live in the south-west of Burkina Faso, and also in northern Ivory Coast and Ghana. They follow traditional, ancestor-based beliefs and their traditions are some of the best preserved in Africa. The live in distinctive fortress-like mud-brick compounds. The Lobi don’t use masks. Most of their woodcarvings are of human figures that are kept in ancestral shrines that are found in every Lobi home (Ref: "Lobi," Lonely Planet, pg 224).