A female Attie sculpture, South Eastern Ivory Coast, région d’Azopé, standing on wedgeshaped feet, a beaded necklace with cowrie shells pendant, waist beads and a loin cloth. Signs of ritual use and age. Attie female sculptures, like their male counterparts, are important ritual and symbolic objects among the Attie (Atyé) people of southeastern Côte d’Ivoire. As an Akan-related group, the Attie maintain sculptural traditions that reflect their social structure, religious beliefs, and aesthetic values. Female figures are especially significant within this context, often embodying ideals of beauty, fertility, social identity, and spiritual intercession. Carved from wood, these figures typically depict a standing woman with upright posture and balanced proportions. The anatomical stylization tends toward elongation, especially in the torso and limbs, though the physical features retain a naturalistic rhythm. The face is often finely sculpted, with arched eyebrows, narrow eyes, a slender nose, and closed lips, expressing composure or introspection. Scarification marks on the face and body may be rendered with precision, reflecting traditional aesthetic and ritual practices. Hairstyles are elaborate and vary in form, corresponding to ceremonial or status-based coiffures seen in real life. The emphasis on the breasts and abdomen in many Attie female sculptures points directly to fertility, nurturing, and continuity of lineage. The figures are not simply representations of women but symbolic conduits for ancestral or spiritual forces. They may have been used in rituals to promote fertility, protect children, or ensure successful childbirth. In some contexts, they served as the embodiment of specific ancestors or spirits connected to lineage groups or family shrines. These sculptures were typically housed in personal or family shrines and tended with care through regular offerings and ritual maintenance. Oiling, rubbing, or the application of substances during ceremonies created the darkened patina commonly seen on surviving examples. Their function was not static: figures could be reinterpreted over time depending on the needs of the family or spiritual community. For example, a female figure initially carved as a fertility charm could later be venerated as a representation of a deceased matriarch or spirit protector. Despite the strong Akan cultural connections, Attie female figures maintain distinct regional characteristics. Their stylistic restraint, formal clarity, and spiritual potency distinguish them from neighboring traditions, including Baule and Agni works, even if superficial similarities exist. Attie artists tended to focus on introspective elegance rather than overt emotional expression, favoring symbolism and formality over dramatic gestures. The rarity of Attie sculptures in both museum collections and academic literature has contributed to their relative obscurity in the canon of African art history. However, when they appear, especially in ethnographic and colonial-era collections, they are recognized for their finely controlled aesthetics and deeply embedded cultural meanings. The quiet dignity of Attie female sculptures speaks to their role not just as visual objects but as living presences within Attie cosmology and social life. References: Vogel, Susan M. Baule: African Art, Western Eyes. Yale University Press, 1997. Holas, B. Arts de la Côte d’Ivoire. Musée de l’Homme, 1969. Bohumil Holas. Les Attié: Côte d'Ivoire. Editions Berger-Levrault, 1957. Robbins, Warren M., and Nancy Ingram Nooter. African Art in American Collections. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. Kerchache, Jacques, Jean-Louis Paudrat, and Lucien Stephan. Art of Africa: The Three Thousand-Year History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995. Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, object records and catalogue entries.