Standing female figure ·  Sierra Leone, Temne · ID: 3033501

Description

wood, brown patina, brass tags, fragmentary arms, both hands resting aside the abdomen, accentuating the figures gender, missing parts (both feet and arms), cracks (left side of head and trunk, spread with mass), traces of old insect caused damage at the back of the coiffure, paint rubbed off, on base;
old and extremely rare piece !
such figures were used from female dignitaries “an-Digba” of the “bondo” women society. They were part of their most valuable ritual belongings and were kept hidden in a personal room. Only on one occasion, i. e. the intitiation of young girls into adulthood, such a figure was presented to the public.

Comparing literature

Phillips, Tom (Hg.), Afrika, Die Kunst eines Kontinents, Berlin 1996, p. 474