Maternity figure

Dan people call this type of figure mü le, or “wooden person.” The renowned Ivorian master carver Zlan, who died in 1960, once reminisced one of his mü le: “I went to a chief of the Dan, named Bu, in Tuba … [F]or him I carved a figure with a child on the back. For it he gave me a sheep, a goat, and a large garment. On Bu’s command I carved the woman as his head wife looked.” Although not carved by Zlan himself but possibly by one of his pupils, this maternity was made as a prestige object for a chief or wealthy patron. It is one of the few genres in African art that often portrays actual persons, be it in idealized form.