Malian Kneeling Female Holding Belly

One arm raised and body twisting, this figure looks mid-gesture and mid-thought.

This bronze kneeling female figure holding her belly is Djenne, from Mali, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. Small cast bronze figures in West Africa were generally made by the lost-wax method, in which a wax model is covered in clay and replaced with molten metal. Thin, elongated figure with a narrow head, an upraised arm and a spiralling torso with incised lines. The legs end in flared, splayed feet that form a base. Pale blue-green corrosion covers much of the dark surface. It is 0.5 inches wide, 0.5 deep and 2.25 high.

All limbs and attitude, and not a gram wasted.