photo: tribalartforum.com/ identification no. P7141550.jpg

Although this amazing carved object may look unfamiliar to many of us, Africans familiar with a version of the board game, mancala, would recognize it immediately. Mancala is the term given to a "family" of board games that are among the oldest in the world. The earliest versions were played by scratching or digging holes into the earth or stone. Here, a master carver has translated this simple format into an object of prestige appropriate for a player of considerable rank.
Notice the finely carved, angled surfaces and features of the face at one end of the game board. Patterns of short, carefully controlled lines forming v-shaped chevrons appear along the top of the head and forehead. The same pattern is repeated in even more delicately applied lines between the two rows of carved cup-like depressions.Mancala is played by 2 people and on rare occasions by two teams using a number of identical, small pieces or "counters." Through the centuries, counters have been made from non-edible seeds, cowry shells and even small balls of dung. The goal of the game is to capture more counters than your opponent. The single cup at the end of this game board may have been meant to hold captured counters. To play the game, counters are placed into the 12 cups and moved around the game board through a series of repetitive moves and strategic calculation. Mancala is not a game of chance; it has the same international reputation today as chess for being a game of intellect.According to African tradition, mancala is played by men as a form of entertainment or as part of a ritual. Pieces are oftentimes assigned an association with people, animals or things that the players may covet, such as "cattle," "houses" or even "wives." (The beautiful head carved at one end of the game board may, in fact, be an idealized portrait of the original owner's favorite wife.) On the Ivory Coast, where this particular game board originates, mancala is known to have been played all night to test the intelligence, maturity and character of those competing to be the next ruler. It's accepted that the winner of the game enjoys divine favor. Source: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art