Image:Bamana Mother and Child 15th-20th century.jpg

• Seated Mother and Child, 15th-20th century
• Origin: Mali; Bamana; Bougouni or Dioila region
• Material:Wood;
• Height: 48 5/8 in. (123.5 cm)
• Metropolitan # (1979.206.121)

Bamana notions of ideal beauty and character are evoked in this figure of a mother and child. The figure is part of a corpus of large, relatively naturalistic sculptures whose rounded volumes and variety of gestures depart from the angular forms and stiff postures characteristic of many other types of Bamana sculpture. These figures are displayed at the annual ceremonies of "Jo", an association of initiated Bamana men and women, and at the rituals of "Gwan", a related society whose purpose is to help women conceive and bear children. Groups of sculptures which were collectively owned by individual communities to be publicly exhibited on such occasions, included representations of a mother and child, a male companion, and related attendant figures.