2
keywordPath%20%3D%20%22GYTG%22%20and%20Disp_Obj_Type%20%3D%20%22Sculpture%22
Sculpture
Female Figure (Akuaba)
Asante artist, (active )
Asante artist
Ghana
Primary
10 1/2 x 4 1/4 in. (26.7 x 10.8 cm)
.
.
.
Wood
Wood
Asante; made in Ghana
0
0
1900-2000, African art, Asante, fertility figures, sculpture
Sculpture
Asante women often carry dolls called akuaba to encourage fertility and ensure the health and beauty of the child. The figure is placed at an altar or held in the wrappers of a woman's clothing, treated as a real child until pregnancy occurs. If the resulting child dies, the akuaba might be kept as a memorial to the infant. Akuabas are representative of ideal beauty, demonstrating round or oval heads with high foreheads, and long necks with excess fat, indicating a good state of health.
[Gallery label text]
1984.19
item
Memorial Art Gallery
11/28/2000
negative
4x5
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
84.19SL1
slide
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
84.19DI1
digital image
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.19_A1.jpg
84.19DI#2
digital image
Front
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.19_A2.jpg
84.19DI#3
digital image
back
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.19_A3.jpg
Sculpture
Fertility Doll (Akuaba)
Asante artist, (active )
Asante artist
Ghana
Primary
10 x 3 5/8 in. (25.4 x 9.2 cm)
.
.
.
Wood
Wood
Asante; made in Ghana
0
0
1900-2000, African art, Asante, fertility figures, sculpture
Sculpture
Fertility is a universal human concern that has long been a central issue in Africa where the infant mortality rate remains high to this day. An akuaba is a fertility talisman meant to aid an Asante woman yearning to become a mother.
Akuaba are affectionately bathed, dressed, fed and carried by women as they would a living child. Their slight, flat shape is designed to be carried on a woman’s back in her cloth wrapper. When the woman’s child survives childhood, the akuaba is sometimes placed in a shrine as an offering of thanks to the god responsible. Almost all of these fertility dolls are female as the Asante are a matrilineal society and most women wish for daughters to carry on their family line.
[Gallery label text, 2009]
1984.20
item
Memorial Art Gallery
11/28/2000
negative
4x5
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
84.20SL1
slide
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
84.20DI1
digital image
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.20_A1.jpg
84.20DI#2
digital image
Front
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.20_A2.jpg
84.20DI#3
digital image
back
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.20_A3.jpg