Decorated Ashanti Akuaba

Lovingly adorned Ashanti akuaba with multiple beaded necklaces and waistbands. The origin of akuaba comes from a story about a young Ashanti woman named Akua who was having trouble conceiving a child and consulted a priest to help her. The priest told her to commission a woodcarving of a child and treat it as it were a living infant. She did this and was teased about it from other women but, eventually, became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Her story encouraged other to do the same. Among the Akan, akuaba “are considered objects with the capacity to help women conceive and deliver healthy babies. The figures are sculpturally abstracted with a tubular body and short arms surmounted by a flattened head and face,” write Steven van de Raadt and Daniel Mato in Aspects: Akan Cultures in Ghana. The shape, color and detail of each fertility doll vary according to which group of Akan the work comes from, but all are typically female representations. Ex Allan Stone.

13″

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