Drum ·  Ghana, Ashanti · ID: 3036091

Description

wood, middle brown patina, encrusted in some areas, various remains of paint, fancy form: the drum corpus is rising from human legs and is carved with female breasts (which is characteristic for drums of the Akan), decorated with “honeycomb pattern” with proverbial images and animal emblems in bas-relief inbetween, breasts and breast tips worked separate, right foot (rep.), minor missing parts, abrasion of paint, animal drum skin (renewed);
the motif of female breasts seems to manifest some abstract idea of nurturance, i. e., the drum is the “mother of the group”. The Ashanti and Fante play drums for various ceremonies, social events and for recreation.

Expertise

Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, 01.05.2003, Munich, Germany

Littérature comparée

Cole, Herbert M. & Doran H. Ross, The Arts of Ghana, Los Angeles 1977, p. 170 ff.