This is a figure of a royal titled wife-weentah, the wife of the Fon,
or a palace woman. This palace woman appears in her nudity, and has her hands
crossed. She has a special shaved hairstyle, rubbed with camwood. Camwood
is a reddish makeup for Kom women, and it is supposed to represent peace and
fertility. The palace equally adores camwood and will give marks of it to
everything that comes from the palace.
This image has a story to tell: she is a newly married woman, a wife to the
Fon and she has her hands crossed to show respect for the Fon. Most things
presented to the Fon must be covered, so food is covered and his wives have
their hands in this position as a sign of respect. There are beads around
the neck of the woman, which differentiates her from ordinary women. I want
to laugh because there is a story about beads and the palace women. Normally,
some palace women wander around and sometimes hang out and meddle with other
people in the village. The Fon is not supposed to know. And I was told that
when they want to do this unnoticed, they would just remove these beads so
that men would think they are not women from the palace.
