Tellem Figure, Mali

Tellem figures are ancient wooden sculptures created by the Tellem people who inhabited the Bandiagara Escarpment region of present-day Mali from approximately the 11th to 16th centuries. These highly abstracted ancestral figures, characterized by raised arms and encrusted patinas from ritual offerings, were placed in cliff-side granaries and funerary sites as votive objects. Revered in the global art market for their spiritual intensity and formal sophistication, they represent some of the most sought-after examples of Sub-Saharan African art at major auction houses.