Rare & Old Boccio woman protection statues on stand. Size are 45 cm high including the stand. This Boccio statues is dated mid of the 20th century and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. Figure poles like these two, Boccios, were placed outside the women's house and sunk into the earth, allowing them to age beautifully through exposure. Despite their small size, they seem to acquire a spiritual monumentality through being fused with the earth and believed by man. They stood at the entrance to the women's house and served as a protective function, blocking the entrance of evil spirits. These were not portraits or specific spirits, but the sculpted figure in human form is a repository or bait for a spiritual force. In this case, the sculpted figure is a kind of stand-in or stalking horse for the people it is intended to protect. Here, as in much African art, the form of the sculpture is more related to ideas about reality, both visible and invisible, than to the literal representation of nature.