The art of the Senufo tribe is traditionally one of the most popular styles of African art. The graceful contours of their sculptures and the abstract forms of their masks inspired the works modern artists such as Braque, Modigliani, and Picasso. This sculpture represents a rare subject of daily life. This woman is bent over at almost a ninety degrees angle. She holds a hoe in her two hands, the shape of which echoes the bend of her back, as she prepares the land for cultivation. Although at first this seems to be a simple agricultural scene, upon further inspection, a deeper meaning to the work becomes evident. When analyzing the attire of the woman, we are struck by her intricately braided hairstyle. However this is no coiffure that one wears while working in the fields under the glaring rays of the sun. Instead this is a hairstyle that signifies rank in the upper echelons of the Senufo social structure. Thus this woman is not a peasant but a high-ranking dignitary or even royalty. The decorative scarifications carved next to her lips further confer her elite status. Perhaps this sculpture was used during harvest rituals in which a memorialized ancestor continues to till the fertile fields. Perhaps this sculpture served a function during ceremonial mourning periods after the passing of an important person. Might this woman be tilling the land so that the departed spirit of the ancestor may reap the bountiful harvest of the afterworld? Much as the aesthetic considerations of Senufo art influenced modern artists, so the spiritual significance of this stunning sculpture should influence us all.