Artists use great skill and imagination when fashioning African combs in materials such as wood, bone, or ivory. The spines, or handles, are decorated with carved motifs and precious metals, including locally mined gold and imported brass.

 African "pillows" are traditionally made of wood, ivory, or fired clay. The basic form of two platforms separated by a vertical post is consistent throughout Africa, from Egypt to South Africa, and throughout time, from antiquity to the present.

Artists use great skill and imagination when fashioning African combs in materials such as wood, bone, or ivory. The spines, or handles, are decorated with carved motifs and precious metals, including locally mined gold and imported brass.

The Tuareg are a seminomadic people of Amazigh origin (also known as Berbers) who dwell in tents (ehen) that can, along with their furnishings and possessions, be disassembled, packed, and carried to their next destination.

The Tuareg are a seminomadic people of Amazigh origin (also known as Berbers) who dwell in tents (ehen) that can, along with their furnishings and possessions, be disassembled, packed, and carried to their next destination.

The Tuareg are a seminomadic people of Amazigh origin (also known as Berbers) who dwell in tents (ehen) that can, along with their furnishings and possessions, be disassembled, packed, and carried to their next destination.

Hands on his hips , this male figure stands securely on the back of an animal. The precise meaning of this figure is unclear.

Small sculpted figures holding a vessel in one hand are called mbulenga, which means "for beauty, for good luck" in the Lulua language, and were believed to offer general well-being.

All power figures (minkisi; sing. nkisi) are containers for consecrated substances, or "medicine," that empower them to protect, heal, or destroy. Such medicines are packed into body orifices or within a visible medicine pack on the torso that is sealed with a mirror.