BoW-16 / Akua'ba - Akan (Asante or related), Ghana

Height: 8.5 in / 21.6 cm

ex private collection, US

Wood, pigment

The softly modeled face and calm expression suggest the hand of a confident carver working within the Akan tradition. While the figure shares characteristics with Asante akua’ba, its restrained naturalism and balanced proportions make a more specific regional attribution difficult. In any case, it is a beautiful and well carved example of this uncommon type.

There is a figure, # 2401, by the same carver in Ron van Doorn’s book Akua’ba Asante: Wednesday Child, and figure #2702 might be by the same carver as well. Ron van Doorn also shows other examples in this unusual style on a page on his website: https://www.akuaba-ron.com/groups

$900 plus shipping