Wooden Figure

This is a wooden carving of a female figure, standing upright and bent at the knees. She wears a pointed cap, associated with Sampa dancers in the exclusively female Sande (Mende) of Bundu (Temne) society. The figure has a segmented neck and wears a lappa, or skirt. According to the Sierra Leone National Museum catalogue, the particular scarification marks on the cheeks associate the carving with the Sherbro ethnic group.