Lobi Standing Fertility Figural Group

Two figures, close enough to touch. One of them already does.

This standing fertility figural group is Lobi, from Burkina Faso, West Africa, made in the 20th century of wood. Lobi carvers make figures called bateba, understood as living beings that act on behalf of people in their dealings with spirits, and groups like this one are associated with hopes for children. Two long-necked, upright figures stand side by side. One wears a cord with small shells at the neck and reaches an arm across. The other has hair cut in ridged lines. Pale streaks run down the dark surface of both. Thirty-one inches high.

Neither looks away.