Figure

Museum number:

5-13479

Permalink:

ark:/21549/hm21050013479

Alternate number:

B-1017 (previous number (Bascom’s number))

Accession number:

Acc.3367

Description:

Fertility doll; round head, outstretched arms; blackened wood (native name: akua-ba)

Donor:

Berta Bascom and William Russell Bascom

Collection place:

Ghana

Verbatim coll. place:

West Africa, Ghana, Ashanti

Culture or time period:

Ashanti

Collector:

Berta Bascom and William Russell Bascom

Collection date:

1943

Materials:

Wood (plant material)

Object type:

ethnography

Function:

5.2 Magic: Objects Associated with Practices reflecting confidence in the ability to manipulate supernatural agencies

Accession date:

December 27, 1977

Context of use:

Both the Fanti and the related Ashanti used a fertility doll, known as akua-ba, which was similar in many ways despite the marked contrast in its outer form. These dolls were not toys, but were treated with magic and were carried on their backs by women who wished to have children. These figures were also carried by pregnant women who wished their children to have beautiful heads and long necks like these figures." (Text, African Arts, UCLMA 1967, p.79.)

Department:

Africa (except Ancient Egypt)

Dimensions:

height 31.2 centimeters

Comment:

Notation on card: “FIne, keep”Photo postcard in color accompanies the Bascom Collection Index card file.Slide. Collected at Awhiaa near Kumasi

Loans:

S1967-1968 #91: Department of Anthropology (UC Berkeley)/William S. Simmons (February 16, 1968–February 16, 1968)

Legacy documentation: