Kom Akwanshi / Neubaa or Ancestral Votive Figure, Based

Rain, wind, and a good many seasons have rubbed every edge off him. He still smiles.

This stone ancestral votive figure is attributed to the Kom peoples of Cameroon. Carved stones such as this are part of a slowly unfolding archaeological story. Fifteen and a half inches tall, an oval mass of pale, honey-colored stone. A rounded face with circular eyes, a broad nose and a gentle, smiling mouth sits beneath a ridged coiffure or headdress, and the arms fold toward the chest. The surface is granular, with traces of earth in the hollows.

Soft contours, firm opinions. He keeps them to himself.