This attractive, highly reductivist and cubist doll was made by the Mossi people of Burkina Faso. Their works are remarkable for their unique treatment of facial features and body proportions, which they reduced to a series of interlocking planes. The important aspects of the doll – the breasts – were always emphasised, as the main focus of the doll was to invoke maternal feeling in the young girls to whom they were given.
There is some regional variability in their manufacture, but this may be considered a well-executed example of the “classical” form, with a ringed pedestal base, a tapering body up to an angular block-shaped torso with geometrically precise breasts, and a slim neck. The head is a crest-shaped coiffure, which is denoted by incised lines. The face reduced to a tiny portion of the anterior aspect of the crest, with two pinprick eyes and a nugatory mouth. There are two additional eminences denoting further bundles/plaits of hair, one on each side. The surface is decorated with an incised triangle (perhaps the vulva) at the base of the pedestal, then linear geometrics across the trunk. The upper region of the chest is decorated with incised triangles, and the contours of the face are also denoted using incised lines. The piece has attained a good, glossy patina from long-term handling.
This is an attractive piece of African art.