Rare Bambara seat with a quadrangular base consisting of an upper seat geometrically incised with rays and supported by an anthropomorphic female caryatid with a masterfully stylized head resolved with only a nose, typically carved with Bambara canons of beauty, and two studs representing eyes. Three more studs are placed on the forehead and a solitary one at throat height.
The hard, firm wood appears cracked and with deficiencies due to the action of time and the wear and tear of men.
Two seats very similar are published on p. 66 of the Bamana catalog, Afrikanische Kunst aus Mali from Museum Rietberg Zurich 2001.