Moba/Bimoba, Northern Ghana Pair of figures Bone, incised decoration, sacrificial patina Wolfgang Jaenicke Collection Carved from bone, this pair of figures displays the radical reduction of the human form characteristic of Moba sculptural language. Large, almost spherical heads without discernible facial features rise above slender, approximately cylindrical bodies. The arms are reduced to narrow elongated ridges extending closely along the sides of the torso; hands and feet are not articulated. At the lower end, a deep incision divides each figure into two short, pointed legs. The smooth, faceless heads and strictly frontal posture give the figures an appearance that is at once concentrated and deliberately impersonal. Comparable Moba figures are similarly characterized by rounded heads, elongated bodies, and an extensive suppression of physiognomic detail. Although both figures follow the same formal principle, they are clearly differentiated from one another. The smaller figure is more compact and bears a conspicuous arrangement of deeply incised intersecting diagonal lines across the shoulders and upper torso. Related crosshatched and angular motifs recur along the middle and lower sections of the body. The taller, more slender figure is instead articulated primarily by horizontal bands: several parallel incised lines encircle the chest and upper body, while a denser succession of horizontal bands marks the lower section. The incisions thus constitute two distinct systems of bodily marking, individualizing the figures while preserving the formal unity of the pair. The surface is particularly striking. A deep brown to almost black coating covers large areas of the bone, while the warm yellowish to reddish-brown color of the underlying material emerges on numerous exposed areas. The resulting irregular, mottled surface records the material history of the figures. Dark deposits remain particularly evident in recesses and incised lines, while raised and exposed areas appear smoother and lighter. Such variations may have resulted from repeated handling, rubbing, and ritual treatment over an extended period. Comparable Moba bone figures are documented with dark sacrificial patinas and traces of ritual use, including other bone figures formerly or presently associated with the Wolfgang Jaenicke Collection. The surface should therefore not be understood simply as an indication of age or as an aesthetic patina. Within the context of a shrine object, repeated offerings, libations, and the application of ritual substances could gradually transform its appearance. Patina in this sense becomes the material record of an object's ritual biography. In the present pair, the dark deposits and their concentration within recessed areas make such an interpretation plausible, although the precise nature of the substances cannot be determined from visual examination alone. The incised markings deserve particular attention. Their placement on the body suggests a relationship to bodily markings or scarification. It is significant that, despite the complete absence of facial features, these patterns have been executed with considerable care. Human identity is therefore conveyed not through individualized physiognomy, but to an important degree through the marked surface of the body. Without specific ethnographic evidence, however, it would be misleading to assign individual crosshatched, angular, or horizontal patterns to a particular clan, family, gender, or social status. The available literature on Moba shrine sculpture documents the ritual functions of figures much more securely than it provides a definitive vocabulary for interpreting individual incised motifs. The incisions may also have possessed a material dimension within ritual practice. Their recessed surfaces could retain substances applied to the figures. Through repeated treatment, the bodily markings would consequently not only have remained visible but could have been materially emphasized and renewed during ritual use. The presence of dark material within some of the incisions of this pair makes such a possibility worth considering, although it cannot presently be established as their specific purpose. Among the Moba of northeastern Ghana and neighboring northern Togo, anthropomorphic figures formed part of a broader system governing relationships between the living, ancestors, and other spiritual powers. The best documented of these figures are generally known as tchitcheri. Their commissioning and use were closely associated with divination. Christine Mullen Kreamer's field research records that a diviner could determine not only the necessity for such a figure but also its appropriate size and gender. Within shrine contexts, figures could enhance the efficacy of sacrificial offerings and were associated with concerns including health, fertility, peace, family well-being, livestock, and prosperity. Kreamer distinguishes several functional categories of tchitcheri. Smaller figures were associated with more personal ritual contexts, while larger examples could relate to family or important clan ancestors. In situations involving illness, infertility, problems affecting livestock, or other forms of misfortune, a diviner might prescribe the commissioning or addition of a figure to a shrine. The small scale and bone medium of the present pair therefore suggest an intimate, personal or domestic ritual setting rather than the more public sphere associated with monumental Moba wooden figures. Bone figures constitute a comparatively rare group within the documented corpus of Moba sculpture. Known examples nevertheless share the same highly abstract conception of the human body and occur both individually and as pairs. The designation yendu tchitcheri has sometimes been applied to small Moba bone figures, but since the ethnographic documentation is considerably stronger for wooden figures, this precise classification should be used cautiously for bone objects lacking a documented field context. The pairing itself should likewise not automatically be interpreted as the portrait of a husband and wife. The two figures may instead have embodied complementary identities or powers. Gender was meaningful within Moba shrine contexts, and Kreamer's research records differentiated locations and functions for male and female figures within domestic ritual space. Figures could be connected with deceased family members, ancestors, initiation, and sacrifices intended to secure the health and peace of the household. The present pair gives particularly concentrated visual expression to the relationship between unity and difference. Material, basic form, extreme abstraction, and surface treatment bind the two figures together, while their proportions and, above all, their contrasting systems of incised body markings distinguish them from one another. Their featureless heads discourage a portrait-like reading; identity appears instead to reside in the body, its markings, and possibly in the history of its ritual treatment. The dense, dark sacrificial patina reinforces this interpretation. These figures were not simply representations to be contemplated, but objects whose significance was repeatedly constituted and renewed through handling, offerings, and ritual action. Literature: Christine Mullen Kreamer, “Moba Shrine Figures,” African Arts, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1987, pp. 52–55, 82–83; Christine Mullen Kreamer, “Seeing Between Worlds: A Moba Figure,” in Frederick John Lamp (ed.), See the Music, Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Munich, 2004, pp. 184–187. Informant Wolfgang Jaenicke Some of the information is generated by artificial intelligence and is based on published sources from the fields of ethnography, archaeology, and art history. Inv. No. MAZ22684 Height: 17 cm / 19 cm Weight: 210 g / 210 g (incl. stand)