A remarkable seated Senufo maternity

A remarkable seated Senufo maternity, Ivory Coast, sitting on a four-legged stool, short feet, sturdy legs, a full belly and solid conical breasts, broad shoulders, long and slender angled arms, on the upturned palms of the mother's hands sit two children, a third sits in a sling on her back, scarification marks on the gluteae, the back,  around the navel, above the breasts, on the cheeks, at the corners of the mouth and on the forehead, on the strong neck sits an impressive head with a protruding mouth showing bared teeth, a slender straight nose with an arrow-shaped tip,  closed almond-shaped eyes, the eyebrows are shaped as two rows of squares that get smaller towards the outside, an elaborated, striated crested hairstyle with one braid hanging over the forehead and one at the back of the head, the hairstyle above the round ears stands out slightly; heavy hardwood, a dark patina with traces of age and use, several cracks.

Lit.: Burkhard Gottschalk: Senufo. Massa und die Statuen des Poro, Düsseldorf 2002; Kat. Ausst. Die Kunst der Senufo: Elfenbeinküste. Mit einem Beitrag von Till Förster, Staatliche Museen der Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Museum für Völkerkunde Berlin, 16.11.1990 - 24.2.1991, Berlin 1990; Die Kunst der Senufo, Museum Rietberg Zürich, aus Schweizer Sammlung, Zürich 1988; Homberger Lorenz: Künstler in Werkstätten der Senufo. In: Afrikanische Meister. Kunst der Elfenbeinküste, Zurüch 2014; Wolfgang Jaenicke: Maternities West African Art.