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Figure

1800s

Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Akan-style artist

Medium
Terracotta
Measurements
Overall: 12.7 cm (5 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Katherine C. White 1974.205
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

A master female potter among the Asante created this clay sculpture to commemorate the departed. While not a naturalistic portrait, this figure depicts features associated with the dead person such as coiffure or facial marks. The rolls of flesh on the neck are a widespread artistic convention for beauty, prosperity, and well-being. After placing the memorial in a sacred forest clearing, family members invoked the spirit of the departed and asked it to accept the sculpture and facilitate communications with ancestors.
A grayish-brown terracotta sculpture depicts a human head and elongated neck with a coarse, grainy texture. The face features prominent, rounded eyes and a wide mouth with thick, protruding lips. A row of small nodules crowns the head, while the neck is encircled by horizontal, ring-like ridges. Facing directly forward, the sculpture has an aged appearance with small white flecks across its weathered surface.

Figure

1800s

Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Akan-style artist

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