Dan Wood Anthropomorphic Spoon, Based

A spoon with legs, and a bowl big enough to feed a crowd.

This anthropomorphic spoon is carved wood, made by the Dan people of Liberia, West Africa, in the 20th century. Among the Dan, large figural ladles are associated with the woman judged most generous in her community, who carried one at feasts as a mark of her standing. Here the deep oblong bowl rises where the shoulders would be, above a body with a small navel, incised patterning along its sides and carefully separated toes. The dark surface holds a soft shine. It stands 35 inches high.

Hospitality seldom has such good posture.