Standing male figure ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Bété · ID: 3034730

Description

wood, matt black patina, columnar trunk and neck, supporting a small egg-shaped head, prominent navel, neck scarifications, glass pupils (missing on the right), rep. (breakage of both arms fixed with metal nails), slight traces of abrasion, wooden socle;
statues of the Bete are extremely rare and there is hardly anything known about their meaning. From fieldwork we only know, that they had pairs of big figures, kept in secret places, which should represent the founders of the settlement and the community. The custom to honour the primeval couple is known from a lot of farming tribes in Western Africa.