Zemanek-Münster

Mother and child figure

Ghana, Fante
sold EUR 1,400
Provenance
J. P. Hamburg, Germany
Size
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. 207

AHDRC: 0054894


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