One of a Pair of Shrine Figures

Open at the bottom and hollow within, this impressive figure [and its companion, 2005.238.1] is an essentially upside-down pot and was doubtlessly made by a potter. Figures such as this one have been described as protective and as representations of ancestors, and they may signify one of the many Vodun that come into being when an important person dies. Figures with the same tufted coiffure, but with squatter bodies, have been collected in southern Ghana and are said to have been brought there in the 1930s. Others come from the border between Togo and Republic of Benin. A male and female pair collected in Togo displays similar elongated bodies, flat, truncated arms and hands, and heavy-lidded expressions. [See also 2005.238.1].