This finial crowning the top of an elaborately carved tusk from 19th-century Kongo depicts a nursing mother. A skilled artisan would have made the tusk as part of a commissioning by a community leader. The few women depicted on this tusk form a striking counter-narrative to most of the images. One woman carried a small child and had a basket on her head, and the other is shown here. Their focus on nurturing relationships sharply contrasted with the repeated images of violence that otherwise dominated the scenes. (National Museum of African Art)
