This female figure, often described as an attendant, is part of a corpus of large figurative sculptures that were, for the most part, unknown in Western collections until the late 1950s. Gwan, a branch of the Jo association, uses carvings -- mother and child, warrior/hunter and standing figures of both genders -- to encourage fertility and successful childbirth.

The vessel on the figure's head refers to the task of women fetching water for daily use and for washing both the Gwan sculptures and the bodies of the newly initiated. Her gesture of supporting her breasts with both hands suggests the nurturing role of women.