Mossi Biiga or Doll / Fertility Figure, Based

A long cap of a head, a thin neck, and a body shaped like a spade.

Mossi carvers of Burkina Faso, West Africa, made this biiga, a doll or fertility figure, in wood in the 20th century. Dolls of this kind are commonly associated with girls and young women and with hopes for children. The domed head is incised with fine crosshatched lines and edged with a side projection, and a long neck rises from a tapering trunk. The wood has darkened to a deep, glossy brown. It stands on a small black base.

About 12 inches tall. Spare, graceful and not at all doll-like.