Ghana, Fanti/Akan, 19th-20th century
wood, resin – height: 37.2cm
This wooden female figurine is an akuaba sculpture made by the Fanti people and used as a ritual object to help women conceive children. The Akan legend of akuaba tells the story of a woman unable to bear children, who was advised by a priest to commission a child figure and wear it on her back wrapped in a shawl emulating carrying a baby. Miraculously she then became pregnant, and ever since akuaba figurines, including the present, have been produced to stimulate fertility.
This statue has a typical abstracted columnar body form. The figure, although simplistic in shape, has graceful proportions and delicate decorations, including softly carved facial features with slightly raised eyebrows and nose, punctured eyes and ears, a ringed neck, raised sacrificial marks along the back, and small horizontal lines marked below the bosom representing breast milk.[1] The geometric engravings on the reverse and on the sides of the plank-shaped head showcase the carver’s creativity. In comparison to similar Fanti akuaba figurines, the present is amongst the more elegant examples, due to its elongated slender volume and precise ornaments.
The sculpture is in good condition and has an attractive authentic patina, showing some wear and tear consistent with age, a smooth and contoured surface. Small punctures along the top of the figurine’s head indicate the original attachment of hair decoration.[2]
PROVENANCE
Collection Alain Dufour/Galerie Afrique, France, 2005
Collection Lucien Van de Velde, Belgium, 2005-2006
Collection Rutger & Irene der Kinderen, The Netherlands, 2006-2017
AHDRC.EU INVENTORY NUMBER
0054842-001
EXHIBITED
Berg en Dal, The Netherlands: "Van Verre Volken Thuis-Kunst in de Kamer", Afrika Museum, 4 October 2008 - 4 January 2009
PUBLISHED
Eerhart, Frank. Postures and Gestures of African Iron Figurines. Eindhoven: Frank Eerhart Editions, 2019, p.31.
Rossel, Siebe and Arnold Wentholt. Tribal Treasures in Dutch Private Collections. The Netherlands: Vereniging Vrienden Etnografica, 2008, p.55.
RELATED LITERATURE
Thompson, Robert Farris. African Art in Motion: Icon and Act. University of California Press, 1979.
Segy, Ladislas. “The Ashanti Akua'ba Statues as Archetype, and the Egyptian Ankh: A Theory of Morphological Assumptions”. in Anthropos, Vol.58, no.5/6 (1963): pp. 839-867.
[1] Robert Farris Thompson, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, (University of California Press, 1979), p.53
[2] See a similar akuaba sculpture with hair in the Cleveland Museum: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.158, lastly visited 23/10/2020
Ghana, Fanti/Akan, 19th-20th century
wood, resin – height: 37.2cm
This wooden female figurine is an akuaba sculpture made by the Fanti people and used as a ritual object to help women conceive children. The Akan legend of akuaba tells the story of a woman unable to bear children, who was advised by a priest to commission a child figure and wear it on her back wrapped in a shawl emulating carrying a baby. Miraculously she then became pregnant, and ever since akuaba figurines, including the present, have been produced to stimulate fertility.
This statue has a typical abstracted columnar body form. The figure, although simplistic in shape, has graceful proportions and delicate decorations, including softly carved facial features with slightly raised eyebrows and nose, punctured eyes and ears, a ringed neck, raised sacrificial marks along the back, and small horizontal lines marked below the bosom representing breast milk.[1] The geometric engravings on the reverse and on the sides of the plank-shaped head showcase the carver’s creativity. In comparison to similar Fanti akuaba figurines, the present is amongst the more elegant examples, due to its elongated slender volume and precise ornaments.
The sculpture is in good condition and has an attractive authentic patina, showing some wear and tear consistent with age, a smooth and contoured surface. Small punctures along the top of the figurine’s head indicate the original attachment of hair decoration.[2]
PROVENANCE
Collection Alain Dufour/Galerie Afrique, France, 2005
Collection Lucien Van de Velde, Belgium, 2005-2006
Collection Rutger & Irene der Kinderen, The Netherlands, 2006-2017
AHDRC.EU INVENTORY NUMBER
0054842-001
EXHIBITED
Berg en Dal, The Netherlands: "Van Verre Volken Thuis-Kunst in de Kamer", Afrika Museum, 4 October 2008 - 4 January 2009
PUBLISHED
Eerhart, Frank. Postures and Gestures of African Iron Figurines. Eindhoven: Frank Eerhart Editions, 2019, p.31.
Rossel, Siebe and Arnold Wentholt. Tribal Treasures in Dutch Private Collections. The Netherlands: Vereniging Vrienden Etnografica, 2008, p.55.
RELATED LITERATURE
Thompson, Robert Farris. African Art in Motion: Icon and Act. University of California Press, 1979.
Segy, Ladislas. “The Ashanti Akua'ba Statues as Archetype, and the Egyptian Ankh: A Theory of Morphological Assumptions”. in Anthropos, Vol.58, no.5/6 (1963): pp. 839-867.
[1] Robert Farris Thompson, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, (University of California Press, 1979), p.53
[2] See a similar akuaba sculpture with hair in the Cleveland Museum: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.158, lastly visited 23/10/2020
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