Bissagos Islands, Guinea-Bissau.

Even if it is no longer presented in its entirety, this female figure contains all the beauty of Bidjogo statuary. The features are classical: hieratic pose, straight body, slightly raised head, strongly marked plane of the superciliary arches on a short and rounded forehead, concave face with lines held towards a prognathic chin, thin and tight lips, straight nose and eyes formed by copper nails (here only one is preserved).
She wears, low on the hips, the characteristic loincloth that is also found on the Mende statues. The combination of geometric volumes with firm lines, the softness of the modeling and the red patina give it a great beauty. The brown wood is coated with red ochre pigments.
The arms and the lower part of the legs are broken, missing. Hole of 5 cm long on the right side of the head. Cracks. 

Bibliography: 

• Exhibited and illustrated in Belles d'Afrique, Musée Despiau-Wlérick, Mont-de-Marsan, January 25 to March 30, 2002. Catalog: n° 7, page 21.
• Like everything that bears a sacred character, statuary is designated by the Bidjogo with the Creole name of iran. According to the morphological classification established by D. Gallois-Duquette (1976, pp. 26-43), this statue falls into the category of "standing iran", almost exclusively feminine and of great formal variety. Its elongated appearance would place its origin in the Orango region.
• A Bidjogo female figure, Bissagos Islands, Guinea-Bissau.

Provenance : 

• Johann Levy Gallery, Primitive Art, Paris.
• Former collection Mario Meneghini, Milan.
• Presentation taken from the Sotheby's catalog, African and Oceanian Art, Various amateurs of Tuesday 15 June 2004, p. 96.