An Akan Fertility Puppet, a so-called Akua’ba, Ghana, with bent legs, a tapered torso with scarification marks and high, protruding breasts, small horizontal arms, a flat disklike head, a long neck with rings, very high forehead that occupies more than half of the face, delicate facial features, a slender nose leading to high brows, wears colorful pearls on the neck and the hips; blackend patina, traces of age and ritual use.

"Akua’ba figures were important fertility aids among Akan-speakers in Ghana in the past. They depict an abstracted female form in wood and were created by male carvers. While this figure is called Akua’ba (Akua’s child), it is clearly not meant to resemble a child. Rather, it depicts a highly abstracted and idealized woman in the prime of life. African art almost always depicts figures in their prime. This time, just after puberty, when young people are generally healthy, strong, initiated, and fertile, is when humans are most ripe with potential—they have the knowledge to successfully pursue adulthood and the physical maturation to marry and procreate. For new parents, this is the stage one hopes for one’s child, especially since high infant and childhood mortality rates remain a formidable reality. The figure is also always female, since Akan culture is matrilineal."

Lit.: Dr. Peri Klemma: Akua’ba Female Figure (Akan peoples), in Smart History.

200 - 300,- Euro

Height: 38 cm
Weight: 0,20 kg