Adja Fetish Figure - Comé Region, Benin The wooden figure possesses a haunting, almost exaggerated presence. Three horn-like protrusions rise above the massive head, lending the sculpture a dynamic silhouette. The face is defined by heavy eyelids, a long nose, and a small, open mouth. An intense ultramarine blue paint covers almost the entire body. Textile and leather-like wrappings encircle the chest and shoulders, to which cowrie shells and other ritual materials are attached. A protruding element in the lower abdomen, along with the layered, used-altered surface, makes the figure appear less like a static artwork and more like a materially "activated" body. The object is attributed to the Adja people of the Comé region in southwestern Benin, a cultural area closely linked to the Vodun traditions of Benin and Togo. In this context, anthropomorphic power figures - often discussed under the term bocio - can be ritually augmented and activated through cords, fabrics, pigments, cowrie shells, and other substances. Depending on the context, they serve for protection, healing, warding off harmful forces, or mediating between the human and spiritual realms. However, the specific function of the figure in question cannot be definitively determined without a documented original ritual context. Literature (selection): Suzanne Preston Blier: African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. Chicago 1995. Jacques Kerchache: Vaudou. Paris 2011. Pierre Fatumbi Verger: Notes sur le culte des Orisa et Vodun. Dakar 1957. Some of the information is generated by artificial intelligence and is based on published sources from the fields of ethnography, archaeology, and art history. Informant Petit Coulibaly Inv. No. MAZ24325