• Fante, Ghana

• Early 20th century

• Wood, pigment, glass beads

• Dimensions: 12.25 x 2.75 in. / 31 x 7 cm

• Ex. James Willis

Small figures found in shrines of the Ghanaian Akan are among the best-known images from all of Africa. Their bodies are cylindrical, with or without arms, and most have thin, sloping heads that were cylindrical among the Asante and rectangular among the Fante. A famous oral history tells of how the first Akua’ba sculpture was given to a barren woman named Akua who then became pregnant and delivered a healthy baby girl. Having learned from the experience of the legendary Akua, other Akan women wanting children ordered Akua’ba figures from carvers. Hoping to enact the Akua’ba’s power, the statues would be consecrated on a shrine, carried on a woman’s back (the way real children are carried), given beaded jewelry or clothes, and even fed and cared for (Visonà, Poynor, and Cole, A History of Art in Africa, 2008).

Domestic shipping included. International shipping quoted separately.

Inquire | Sign up to receive our emails