This skeletal sculpture from the Makurdi region belongs to the cultural milieu of the Tiv people, whose settlement area extends along the central Benue Valley. The material culture of the Tiv is closely linked to concepts of lineage, social balance, and the relationship between the living and their ancestors. Figurative representations often served as media for remembrance, moral instruction, or the visualization of unseen forces. Incl stand. The sculpture depicts a seated skeleton of compelling presence. Despite the simplified anatomical representation, the figure appears remarkably composed and serene. The frontal gaze and slightly open mouth create the impression of a silent address and lend the work an existential tension. The arms hanging loosely at the sides with palms facing inward emphasize a posture of passivity and contemplation, while the simple stool firmly anchors the figure in the human world. Within numerous African pictorial traditions, skeletal representations do not primarily depict death in the Western sense, but rather allude to transience, the presence of ancestors, and the continuing influence of previous generations. The exposed skeleton functions as a visible metaphor for the fundamental structure of human existence. The pronounced desiccation cracks, chips, and signs of age document a long history of use and lend the object additional historical depth. The sculpture impressively combines physical reduction with a complex reflection on memory, mortality, and the continuity of social community. Literature (selection) Paul Bohannan, Justice and Judgment among the Tiv, London 1957. Paul Bohannan, The Tiv of Central Nigeria, London 1953. Herbert M. Cole, Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa, Washington D.C. 1989. Sidney L. Kasfir, African Art and the Colonial Encounter, Bloomington 2007. Suzanne Preston Blier, The History of African Art, London 2023. Jacques Kerchache, Jean-Louis Paudrat and Lucien Stéphan, L'Art africain, Paris 1988. Note: Skeleton figures are relatively rarely documented within published Tiv art. MAZ13895