Standing female figure

Description

wood, encrusted brown patina, painted with dots in white and red, both hands up to the chin, bulging belly, min. dam., cracks, slight traces of abrasion;
much of Mambila art is associated with the seasonal cycles of planting and harvesting and the ancestral cult, whose material abode is the guarded shrine of every family compound. The real function of a figure cannot clearly be determined when once she has left her place of origin. Male figures might have served as guardians of the village - female figures might rather be seen in connection with fertility or as memorial figures.