A carved wooden staff featuring a Shango priestess atop the staff, The child strapped to her back turns its head to look to the right, its hands curled under the woman’s arms. The baby refers to Sango’s power in granting children, as well as to the woman’s purity. Perched above the woman’s hair, a double axe painted in indigo blue. The staff handle must have been lost as some point, and an earlier collector had it mounted. The staff measures 16.75 inches on its base. Yoruba peoples, Nigeria, West Africa.

Fair, well weathered