Dan Wood Spoon, Liberia

Hospitality, carved with a face. This is a spoon with a reputation to uphold.

This spoon is Dan work from Liberia, West Africa, carved from wood in the early 20th century. Large figurative ladles among the Dan are generally linked to women honored for their generosity, who hosted and fed guests at feasts. The bowl here forms the body. Above it rise full breasts, a neck of carved lozenges and a dark, polished head with narrow white-rimmed eyes and fanned, crested hair. Incised curves and diamonds run along the rim. A thin crack crosses the chest. Twenty-three inches high.

She looks ready to serve, and to remember who came back for seconds.