Bassa (Basa), Liberia
Ancestral female statue. The Bassa numbering
just under 300,000 live in the middle of present-day Liberia. They practice shifting
cultivation, with rice as the dominant crop in the interior and cassava more prominent
near the coast. They are patrilineal and patrilocal, living in small settlements seldom
numbering more than two hundred inhabitants. The Bassa have both mens and
womens societies and practice both circumcision and clitoridectomy. Bassa artistic
tradition has been strongly influenced by their northeastern neighbors, the Dan and has many similarities with the
classical northern Dan style of idealized naturalism. The statues of this kind with
typically enlarged head represent the female ancestors and played some role in the
ancestor cult.
Material:
wood
Size: H. 29½, W. 10½ D. 9