ClassificationsAfrican Art
Female Figure
Place CreatedSierra Leone, Africa
CultureTemne or Bullom
Datelate 19th-early 20th Century
MediumWood
Credit LineEx coll. William S. Arnett
Dimensions6 11/16 x 26 3/8 x 4 3/4 in. (17 x 67 x 12 cm)
Object number1994.004.801
Label TextIn the early 20th century, when many objects were collected by Western museums, the documentation that accompanied their acquisition was often lost, or transactions went unrecorded. This carving illustrate the difficulty of reconstructing the original meaning and purpose of an object once it has left Africa and moved into a museum collection.Among the Temne and Bullom of southern Sierra Leone, idealized figures are carved for a number of sacred purposes. The same type of figure might be a twin memorial figure, a representation of an ancestor, a diviner's aid, or a guide for male and female youth undergoing initiation to adulthood.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Installation, November 19, 2007 - December 1, 2014
ProvenanceEx coll. William Arnett (1939-2020), Atlanta, Georgia.
Status
Not on viewCollections
- African Art
16th Century (?)
ca. 16th Century
late 19th-early 20th Century
late 19th Century
1920s-1940s
late 19th-early 20th Century
20th Century
late 19th-early 20th Century