Dengese Female Figure

While the Dengese do not use masks, they produced some great statues that become part of museum collections at the end of the nineteenth century. The Dengese artists carved legless figures of the king which were believed to embody his power. Their figurative sculpture depicting important male and female lineage members that are placed on the tombs of the deceased, have no lower extremities too (Perani & Smitt 1998: 245). The bodies are covered with geometric scarification and wear bracelets and have hairdos that resemble those worn by notables. The only existing female statue is supposedly depicting the female founder of the association, although women are not admitted as members. (Cornet 1976 cited in Art of Africa 1993:578).