2-728-514 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Female Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s. An artistic melting pot, the Bondoukou region in northeastern Ivory Coast near the border with Ghana, is inhabited by several ethnic groups whose cultures often intermingle. This figure's rounded shapes and delicate surface decoration--which seem to imitate body scarifications--closely resemble the style of Baule carvings. The figure's meaning and function remain a mystery.