A carved wooden female sculpture with stylized face and form, incised tribal motifs and a well handled surface patina. This statue represents a beautiful young woman of the Jo society, an association that offers social guidance and teaches models of behavior, into which both women and men were initiated. Initiations would take place every seven years. Figures like this one were carried around by male initiates while they traveled for several months to neighboring villages, advertising their new adult status and their desire for marriage. The figures embody the physical attributes considered to be attractive to young Bamana women. Anointed with oil, the sculptures represent women in their ideal state, at their highest degree of physical attractiveness. The idol measures 27 x 8 inches. Provenance: A Private Washington DC collection.

fair, erosion to base