Nursing Woman with Child

1800s-1900s

Nursing Woman with Child, 1800s-1900s. Africa, West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, reportedly Korhogo area, Senufo-style carver. Wood and organic material; overall: 63.6 cm (25 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund 1961.198 Beyond its specific depiction of a mother nursing her child, this sculpture symbolizes a larger concept of ancestral motherhood that is central to Senufo society, in which cultural inheritance is matrilineal. The darkened areas of wood come from oils applied to its surface as both libations and surface protectants. In some Senufo beliefs, one of the most important founding ancestors is the Great Mother or Ancient Woman (Katyeleeo or Maleeo). In groups that believe in the Great Mother, she suckles male initiates with the "milk of knowledge." Through this process, youths gain the information they need to become adults (that is, fully human). The simplified appearance of the "child" in this sculpture reflects his unformed, pre-initiated state. The mother’s face, adorned with incisions and markings, resembles that of women who have reached puberty.