I am going to tell you of Maghan Sunjata, Mari-Diata, Sogolon Diata, Nare Maghan Diata: The man with many names whom sorcery could not touch”
-The Epic of Sunjata
Depicted is a so-called Djenne terracotta from Mali. The Djenne terracottas constitute a large and diverse body of works dated from the 11th to the 17th century, mostly acquired through illicit digs, which has made contextualizing them quite difficult.
There are at least three Djenne sculptures depicting this particular scene of a seemingly crippled man, using semi-circular crutches to support himself. Two of them have a lump on their back and one has a pigeon chest.
According to the Sunjata Epic, Sunjata’s legs were paralyzed in his early life, forcing him to move around on all fours or with crutches. The lump on the back and pigeon chest are also associated with the iconography of Sunjata’s mother, Sogolon, making a tentative identification of the sculpture possible. This sculpture probably depicts Sunjata himself, the young crippled prince who would overcome his disability to become one of the greatest conquerors the region had ever seen, establishing the Mali Empire in the process.
