Woman and Child
Unknown Artist
mid- to late 1800s
Medium
Wood
Dimensions
26.2 × 9.2 × 7.4 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Accession Number
2003.35
About this artwork
This mother-and-child figure was probably part of a cult concerned with the treatment of infertility. Both her jewelry and her seated pose indicate that the woman occupied a high rank in her community. Her miter-shaped hairstyle, chiseled teeth, and raised body scars--considered to be marks of beauty and perfection--signal that the woman incarnates the founding ancestor of a kinship group.