Her oval face is serene, with wide eyes; her small breasts are youthful. Rings on her neck enhance her beauty and tattoos embellish her face. This exquisite statuette by Samuel Okyere depicts a woman of the Bakota people who live in the northeast of Gabon. Their masks and figures are said to act as guardian spirits over ancestors whose bones are kept in boxes. Okyere sculpts the piece from native sese wood and allows it to dry naturally. He then sands and polishes it to a lustrous sheen and applies dark tan, black and Mansion polish to enhance and protect the carving. An antique finish and applications of embossed aluminum on the face finish an exquisite example of West African art. Although his college coursework focused on accounting, economics and commerce, Okyere prefers the arts. He and his apprentices produce outstanding figures with traditional themes from West Africa.
