1850s Bamana Nyeleni Female Figure with Brass Eyes

Very Old Mali African Tribal

The figure is of a female with legs slightly bent and wearing a breechcloth in a brown yarn material part wool and part cotton.

Early from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The figures are an idealization of youthful feminine beauty.

The term nyeleni is derived from a traditional Bamana girl's name and has multiple interpretations, including little one or little ornament.

Nyeleni figures emphasize several distinctive characteristics, most notably, a rather geometrically derived form.

They have prominent conical breasts that project sharply from a flattened chest and are counterbalanced by exaggerated buttocks that jut out behind the figure.

The arms, legs, and torsos are highly cylindrical. Hairstyles vary but usually exhibit some variation on a crest-like arrangement.

The aesthetic beauty of such works is heightened by the addition of beads or metal accessories and oil, which is rubbed into the figure to produce a lustrous surface.

These additions are comparable to the way young Bamana women prepare themselves for special occasions.

The head is elongated with a narrow tuft of hair on the top of the head which descends to the back of the head and has incised lines.

The ears are decorated and there are spaced holes around the ear ornaments with tufts of red fibers at the bottom of the ear ornament.

The head is elongated, and the face is a cavity, the eyes are brass tacks, the nose is long and slender, and the mouth is a slit.

The figure is wearing a necklace, the beads are large trade beads from an early period and were red at one time, there is a shine to some of the beads.

The feet of the figure is on a square base.

The narrow shoulders descend to thin, short arms.