Moba Sculpture - Northern Ghana, incl stand. The towering wooden figure is reduced to the very edge of abstraction. A small, almost spherical head sits directly atop an extremely elongated, slender body; facial features, hands, and anatomical details are entirely absent. Two long, ribbon-like arms accompany the gently curved torso, while the legs appear barely separated. The irregular, grayish-brown surface, with its cracks, erosion, and darker deposits, lends the figure a quiet, almost elemental presence. Its formal power derives less from sculptural detail than from its focus on verticality, volume, and the basic human form. The sculpture belongs to the Moba tradition of northeastern Ghana and the adjacent northwestern part of Togo. Characteristic of their wooden figures, known as tchitcheri, is a radically simplified anthropomorphism with a rounded head, elongated body, and largely absent facial features. Such figures were created on the recommendation of divinators for personal, family, or communal shrines. Depending on their size, they could embody different relationships to guardian spirits and ancestors; large tchitcheri sakab were particularly associated with ancient clan ancestors and were placed in the ground. Without information on their original placement and size, however, the precise ritual category of this work should remain open. Literature (selection): Christine Mullen Kreamer: “Moba Shrine Figures.” African Arts 20/2, 1987. Alisa LaGamma / John Pemberton III: Art and Oracle. New York 2000. Frederick Lamp (ed.): See the Music, Hear the Dance. Munich 2004. 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. MAZ26649