Bidspirit auction | Female Figure, Atti/Akan, Ivory Coast

Female Figure, Atti/Akan, Ivory Coast - African Tribal Art: Atti/Akan People, Ivory Coast, West Africa: Figure of a seated woman carrying a vessel on her head, mid 20th Century. Carved wood, kaolin pigment, beads. This is an appealing classic example of Atti sculpture, with a typical elongation and rendering of the body as a set of discrete, crisply delineated volumes. Atti sculptors make figures of this type to be placed on shrines used by members of various all-male secret societies. The barrel the figure is holding over its head represents an offering of gunpowder or other contents of value to the society.