Mother and child figure
Ghana, Fante
sold
EUR 1,400
Provenance
J. P. Hamburg, GermanySize
H: 35 cm
H: 13.8 inch
Description
wood, indigo blue and white pigment (“hyire”), black paint, seated on a stool, richly adorned (strings of glass beads, brass pendant), the child separately carved, with chevron bead around the neck, slightly dam., missing parts (horn tip), rest., abrasion of paint;
maternity figures protray the idea of fertility and continuity. The image of the nursing mother is ubiquitous throughout Akan society and figures are found in a number of different contexts including royal shrines or stool houses, in shrines dedicated to the river god “tano” and in anti-witchcraft shrines.
Publications
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Afrikanische Kunst in Deutschen Privatsammlungen, München 1973, p. 154, ill. 207AHDRC: 0054894