Mossi Biiga or Doll / Fertility Figure, Based

A long-necked profile with a hooked chin, nothing like a conventional doll.

Burkina Faso, West Africa, is the home of the Mossi, whose carvers made this biiga fertility figure in wood in the 20th century. Such figures are traditionally associated with girls’ play and with the hope of motherhood. The head is a large, rounded disc, its eye a small ring at the center, with a thin curved bar sweeping down like a beak. A tall, narrow body flares at the base. Carved lines run along the body in pale grooves. The wood is dark, reddish brown and polished by handling. It stands on a small black base.

About twenty-three inches tall. A graceful oddity, and tall enough to hold a corner.