Pre-Columbian Terra Cotta Figural Sculpture | This unique terracotta figure came from a Mono River area on the border of Togo and Benin. It was placed on ancestral altars and sacrificed with millet gruel; their name 'kronkronbali' (children of earlier times) is a clear indication of the Ewe's idea of rebirth which equates birth with death to some extent: one is the origin, the other return. Open at the bottom and hollow within, this terracotta figure is an essentially upside-down pot and was doubtlessly made by a potter. Figures such as this one have been described as protective and as representations of ancestors, and they may signify one of the many Vodun that comes into being when an important person dies. Figures with the same tufted coiffure, but with squatter bodies, have been collected in southern Ghana and are said to have been brought there in the 1930s. Others come from the border between Togo and the Republic of Benin. This female figure has various holes and openings in the head (ears, eyes, mouth, and top) as well as one at the stomach, presumably vents and such for use as a heater, pot, jar, or oven.| Approx. Size: 23" H x 9.5" D