Standing Female Figure

19th-20th century; Mali, Bamana; Wood, copper, beads; height 51.8 cm (20 3/8 in.); Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill; 70.46

The Bamana tribe's Jo Association uses these figures as part of the initiation of young men into adulthood. After six years of instruction, a symbolic death in enacted and the young men are "reborn" as adults. Then, while dancing, the initiates hold these figures -- whose large breasts and swelling abdomens allude to a young woman's capacity for childbearing -- to advertise that they are now ready to take a wife.

JPEG, 14K