The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Seated, pale brown terracotta figure with their left arm wrapping around to grab their right shoulder, leaning their left elbow on their left knee and looking down over their arm. Their right ankle hooks behind their left ankle, and their right arm crosses across their chest and behind the left knee. Their body is covered in irregularly shaped circular protrusions, including across the figure's bald head.

Male Figure

possibly 1300s–1600s

Africa, West Africa, Mali, probably Djenné-Djenno, Inland Niger Delta culture-style maker

Terracotta
Overall: 19.7 cm (7 3/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1985.199
Location: 108A African

Did You Know?

While we don’t know who made this work, it can be hypothesized that it was a woman; today, as in much of Africa, potters in Mali are female.

Description

Figures like this would have been used in rituals by the ancestors of the present-day inhabitants of the Inland Niger Delta. Representing the gods and kings or queens associated with the region’s former residents, the figures received prayers and offerings in exchange for their support. The seated position of this male has been interpreted as a harmful pose intended to bring death to an individual.
  • ?–1985
    (Michael Oliver, Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1985–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, and Henry John Drewal. 1989. African Art : A Brief Guide to the Collection : The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum, fig. 1.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. CMA Handbook, 199b, p. 32.
    Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (February 1986): 26–71. Reproduced: p. 64; Mentioned: p. 69, no. 170 www.jstor.org
    Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. Reproduced: cat. 1, p. 32 - 33
  • CMA 1986: "Year in Review 1985," Bulletin 73 (February 1986), no. 170, p. 69, repr. p.64.
  • {{cite web|title=Male Figure|url=false|author=|year=possibly 1300s–1600s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.199