Attié Wood Carved Standing Female Ancestor Figure

Lagoons region, Côte d'Ivoire, early to mid-20th century AD.

Carved from a dense hardwood and finished overall in a black painted surface that has worn unevenly to a warm brown at the high points, revealing decades of ceremonial handling. The figure stands with knees slightly bent and hands resting flat against the stomach, its cylindrical torso rising to a tall, ringed neck, a mark of prosperity and rank among the Attié  and a helmet-like coiffure incised with a crosshatched ridge pattern that culminates in a raised medial crest at the crown. The oval face is quietly rendered with closed, slit-carved eyes, a triangular nose, and a small pursed mouth, giving the ancestor a settled, meditative expression appropriate to its role as a lineage guardian, while strands of trade beads in red, turquoise, chartreuse, and white-and-coral patterning circle the neck and hips, original adornment rather than later addition. Surface wear is pronounced and consistent with genuine altar use, with soft abrasion to the high points of the coiffure and shoulders and a deeply varied patina pooling in the carved recesses; no losses or repairs are evident.

 Standing 12 inches (30.5 cm) high

Provenance: from the estate of Ronald Blatt, owner of Blatt Billiards in New York City. Comparable Attié figures with this ringed-neck, incised-coiffure format have sold at Sotheby's New York, including a female figure of related type that carried a $25,000–$35,000 estimate and an Ebrie-Attié example estimated at $12,000–$18,000