A large Ashanti Akuaba doll
Akuaba
doll,
height: 40 cm high
price: sold
A genuine Akuaba doll in Ghana
symbol of fertility.
West
Ghana is the home of the Ashanti
tribe for whom the fertility doll is very important. This fetish, the Ashanti
figure is called an akuaba or akaba. Of polished wood, and
stained black, the head is in the shape of a large flat disc. The forehead is
high, the nose is flat and the mouth is small. The head is held up by a slender
neck, which appears to be composed of a series of rings. The body, neck and arms
form the shape of a cross, the arms having no joints or hands. The base is
circular, which allows the object to stand free. When we compare several Akuaba
figures, we notice that facial expressions and markings vary. Breasts are small,
and some figures have a protruding navel.
The doll is carried on the
back of an expectant mother during her pregnancy so that her child will be born
beautiful just like the doll.
This stylized piece of sculpture
tells us the importance of fertility and the child for Ashanti women.
Sterile women who hope, by keeping an akuaba with them, to become
pregnant also use the figures. Little girls often learn how to take care of
children by playing with akuaba dolls.
It was
common for a woman wanting a child to carry with her a doll in order to enhance
her fertility.
A
rich woman will sometimes have precious stones or beads on the doll. A pregnant Ashanti
woman would always carry these dolls on her back if she hoped for a
beautiful child. The style of the doll would depend on whether she hoped for a
boy or a girl. Women played an important role in insuring the continuance of the
family line. A man without a child would have no one to watch over his funeral
rites to make sure that his spirit passed over into the spirit world.
A woman's social
position often depended upon the number and quality of her pregnancies. In many
of the tribes it was common for a woman wanting a child to carry with her a doll
in order to enhance her fertility. This doll would be cared for as a baby, being
bathed and carried on the mother's back.
The egg or oval
shape is therefore a shape of beauty for the Ashanti woman because of the fact
that it represents a pregnant woman. To the women of the Ashanti tribe, the Akuaba
is still a symbol of the woman and fertility. Ashanti women carry the Akuaba
statues on their backs when they want to have babies
The Akuaba symbolizes life in
this world.
The Ashanti
believe that a woman is made up of a series of ovals. The half circle represents
the female fertility aspect and the oval also symbolizes cleansing power of the
female. Ashanti women are obsessive about cleansing and teach their daughters
how to be sweet smelling with forest herbs.
This nice Akuaba is 40 cm high,
and can be yours for 2,000 euros.
It is coming from a private
Antwerp collection. A quite low price for a quite big Akuaba doll.
+32- 3-227.35.40 : 
