• Kissi, Sierra Leone

• 13th - 18th Century

• Stone

• 5.75 x 2 x 2 in. / 15 x 5 x 5 cm

• Height on custom display stand: 6.625 in. / 17 cm

For generations, farmers in Sierra Leone and adjoining portions of Guinea and Liberia have unearthed small figures carved of soapstone and other rock types. Known as nomolisia (sing. nomoli), they are often kept by farmers, given offerings, and asked to bring abundant harvests. When the Kissi of Guinea and Sierra Leone unearth stone figures, they identify them as pomtan (sing. pomdo), and consider them representatives of the previous owners of the land or family ancestors (Visonà, Poynor, and Cole, A History of Art in Africa, 2008).

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