Senufo Wood Fetish Figure: Male

Hands pressed to the chest, knees slightly bent, ready for anything.

Senufo artists of the Ivory Coast, West Africa, carved this male figure in wood in the 20th century. It is a fetish figure, and Senufo figures are often associated with divination, protection or the care of ancestral and spirit relations. The figure stands with bent legs and both hands clasped at the chest, under a head with a small crest. The wood is dark brown, polished by handling to a soft sheen.

About eleven inches tall. Small, dense and unbothered by the century.