The Baga artist who created this sculpture carved the head as a human face with an attenuated birdlike beak on an elongated neck. He pierced the skull with openwork forms into which antelope horns holding medicines might be placed. He carved a projection from the back of the head, inserted brass tacks to represent the pupils of the eyes and incised elaborate designs into the surface. Baga art and rituals have been associated with ancestors, various spirits, nature and the cosmos.