Old Kulango Female Figure – Agnibilekro Region, Ivory Coast

Wood, glass beads. Cm. 48,3 high (19.20″); grams 522,2 (18.42 oz.). Clear traces of ritual use. The slender morphology neck, the graceful curves, the traditional scarification marks and the shell hairstyle are criteria of Kulango beauty.

The Kulango people occupy a region in Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), that borders Burkina Faso and Ghana. They are part of the Gur people cluster within the Sub-Saharan African affinity bloc. The primary religion practiced by the Kulango is animism, a religious worldview that natural physical entities – including animals, plants, and even inanimate objects – possess a spiritual essence.

“The Kulango from the northern part of Côte d’Ivoire were ruled by a king and elders who directed community life, based around the agricultural calendar. The Kulango were prosperous merchants who practiced animism and resisted attempts to Islamicize their culture” Source: Second Mask, museum of cultural masks.

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