Bankoni Seated Maternity Figure

Mother, child, a little pot to one side, and a stool with legs like pillars.

This seated maternity figure is Bankoni, from Sikasso, Mali, West Africa, and dates to the 15th century. It is terra cotta. Bankoni terra cottas are named for a site near Bamako, and figures from this region are generally thought to have had ritual significance, though their exact purpose is still debated. The mother has a tall, pointed head, a long nose and heavy-lidded eyes, with full breasts above a small child held at her lap. She sits on a square platform raised on four thick legs. It is 7.5 inches wide and 18.5 high.

Six hundred years of sitting still, and still entirely composed.