Maternité "esi mansa" ·  Ghana, Ashanti · ID: 3040539

Description

wood, slightly shiny black patina, carved with neck rings and sandals, min. dam. (nose, mouth), abrasion of paint, rest. (breakage: shoulder, wrist and thigh on the left side, pedestal), base;
maternity figures portray 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 Tano River god and in anti-withchraft shrines.