Koulango Female Ancestral Statue, Ivory Coast - Early 20th Century
The hardwood of this female Koulango statue, from the Ivory Coast in the early 20th century, has developed a beautiful black patina. With hands resting on the abdomen and the neck ringed, as is common in Koulango art, the pose and face of the statue are calm, as is appropriate for what is likely an ancestral figure.
The art and some of the practices of the Koulango people are closely related to those of the neighbouring Lobi people, whose ‘Bateba’ wooden figurines bear a similarity to those of the Koulango. With an animist religion and a matrilineal society, an elegantly carved female figurine such as this would have held deep importance in the Koulango worldview.
Dimensions:
Height: 22.84 in (58 cm)
Width: 4.73 in (12 cm)
Depth: 2.76 in (7 cm)
Location:
Shoreditch, London
The hardwood of this female Koulango statue, from the Ivory Coast in the early 20th century, has developed a beautiful black patina. With hands resting on the abdomen and the neck ringed, as is common in Koulango art, the pose and face of the statue are calm, as is appropriate for what is likely an ancestral figure.
The art and some of the practices of the Koulango people are closely related to those of the neighbouring Lobi people, whose ‘Bateba’ wooden figurines bear a similarity to those of the Koulango. With an animist religion and a matrilineal society, an elegantly carved female figurine such as this would have held deep importance in the Koulango worldview.
Dimensions:
Height: 22.84 in (58 cm)
Width: 4.73 in (12 cm)
Depth: 2.76 in (7 cm)
Location:
Shoreditch, London
The hardwood of this female Koulango statue, from the Ivory Coast in the early 20th century, has developed a beautiful black patina. With hands resting on the abdomen and the neck ringed, as is common in Koulango art, the pose and face of the statue are calm, as is appropriate for what is likely an ancestral figure.
The art and some of the practices of the Koulango people are closely related to those of the neighbouring Lobi people, whose ‘Bateba’ wooden figurines bear a similarity to those of the Koulango. With an animist religion and a matrilineal society, an elegantly carved female figurine such as this would have held deep importance in the Koulango worldview.
Dimensions:
Height: 22.84 in (58 cm)
Width: 4.73 in (12 cm)
Depth: 2.76 in (7 cm)
Location:
Shoreditch, London