Carved wooden commemorative sculpture of a "D'mba" or Nimba standing male figure with classic treatment to the face and form.Baga peoples, Guinea, West Africa.The D'mba, which was long interpreted as the "fertility goddess", is in fact, according to Professor Lamp, the leading authority on the Baga arts, neither a deity, nor an ancestor, nor even a spirit, but rather an "idea", which combines "beauty, comportment, righteousness, dignity, and social duty". The statues represent both male and female figures, and are sometimes even kept in collections as couples. According to Lamp this double gender within the statuary suggests that the D'mba "represented the unattainable. The beauty, goodness, and high comportment that were epitomized was beyond what any woman - or man - could be.Tribal motifs carved in relief and the highly stylized form all indicate a skilled artist. The sculpture measures 27 inches tall

Fair, weathered and eroded, heavily eroded base.