The episode of 7 September 1931 echoes the events of the previous day in Kemeni, where other Kono objects were seized without the consent of their holders.

Tracing the controversial history of this object is part of the work carried out in the context of the Dakar-Djibouti project, and, more broadly, the provenance research started by the museum in 2019. However, not all histories are as well known or as violent as that of this object, and this is the challenge for long-term research.

One year after the return of the "Dakar-Djibouti ethnographic and linguistic mission", the mission's secretary, Michel Leiris, published his journal entitled L'Afrique fantôme in 1934. On the dates of 5 to 7 September 1931, he reveals that several objects, including the boli, were taken by the Dakar-Djibouti mission without the consent of local institutions.

Excerpt from L'Afrique fantôme by Michel Leiris: :

"7 September. Before leaving Dyabougou, we visited the village and kidnapped the second Kono, whom Griaule had spotted sneaking into the reserved hut. This time, Lutten and I took charge of the operation. My heart was pounding because, since yesterday's scandal, I could see the enormity of what we were doing with greater clarity. Using his hunting knife, Lutten detached the mask from the costume adorned with feathers to which it was attached, handed it to me, so that I could wrap it in the canvas that we had brought, and also gave me, at my request - because it was one of the strange shapes that had intrigued us so much yesterday - a kind of suckling pig, still made of brown nougat (i.e. coagulated blood), weighing at least 15 kilos, and I wrapped it up with the mask. (...) As we were leaving, the chief wanted to return the 20 francs we gave him. Naturally, Lutten let him keep them. But it didn't make it any less ugly..."