Dogon Wood Maternity Figure

The child has her full attention. You may wait.

This maternity figure is Dogon, from Mali, West Africa, carved from wood in the early 20th century. Dogon carvers made such figures of mothers for altars, where they are generally understood to speak to fertility, lineage and the continuity of the family, though the exact meanings are debated. She kneels on a round base with a small child in her lap, one hand raised to steady it at her breast. A crested coiffure rises above a long, grave face. The dark surface has a crackled look. Twenty-two inches high.

Some subjects never need explaining.