Old Fine Baule Maternity Figure – Sakassou, Côte d’Ivoire / Ivory Coast

Carved wood. Cm. 50,5 high (19.88″); grams 1368,0 (48.25 oz.).

A Baule maternity figure from the region Sakassou, Ivory Coast, standing on finely elaborated base, muscular legs ending in prominent buttocks, accentuated knees, a slender torso with a pointed navel and cone-shaped breasts, rounded shoulders leading to arms holding a child in a lying position and looking sidewise, the torso is decorated with different scarification marks on the front and the backside, emphasized shoulder-blades, the thick cylindrical neck supporting a round head, a slightly open mouth beneath a slender nose with prominent nostrils, the nose connected with the high arched brows, almond-shaped eyes which are bordered all around, further scarification marks at the corners of the mouth and on the forehead, the head capped by a sophisticated four-parted coiffure; reddish patina with traces of kaolin, signs of age and ritual use.

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