Malian Bronze Maternity Figure

She holds the child across her lap, and both of them look straight ahead.

This maternity figure is from Mali, West Africa, and dates to the 19th or 20th century. It is bronze. Mother and child groupings appear across West African sculpture, and are generally associated with fertility and the continuity of a family. A woman kneels with a long torso and a rounded belly, her face marked with fine lines around the eyes. An infant rests on her thigh, her arm around it. The metal shows brown highlights worn through a green patina. It is 1.5 inches wide and 3 high.

A small family, steady as stone.