The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 22, 2025
Figure
1800s
Overall: 12.7 cm (5 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1974.205
Location: Not on view
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.- Kent, OH, Kent State University Art Gallery, "Leadership Arts of West Africa," September 15-October 15, 1993.CMA 1975: "Year in Review 1974," CMA Bulletin LXII (March, 1975), p. 97, no. 24CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 94 (incorrectly described), repr. on right above text for cat. 95.
- {{cite web|title=Figure |url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.205