Standing female figure "nakomsé" ·  Burkina Faso, Mossi · ID: 3035793

Description

wood, matt brown patina, rising from bulky feet, striking broad and square shoulders, overlong arms, breasts and navel accentuated, flat face with linear scarification marks and round ears, coiffure of human hair (fixed with clay-like mass), inserted eyes in blue/white of striking effect, slightly dam., abrasion of paint, crack (right shoulder), base;
figures are used by the “nakomsé” in a political context, as visual affirmations of the “nam” or the right to rule of the “naba”. Some figures are used for a short period for the burial of chiefs, and are destroyed, while others receive annual sacrifices to royal ancestors. When exposed to public view in “nakomsé” year-end ancestral sacrifices, figures invariably wear a small cloth wrapper that covers the lower part of the body and thighs in imitation of traditional womens dress. Figures in collections outside Africa are unclothed. During the remaining months, figures are stored in the “kimse roogo”, in the hut of the chief’s senior wife.

Littérature comparée

Roy, Christopher, Art of the Upper Volta Rivers, Paris 1987, p. 158 ff.