Images(2)

Fertility Figure (akua'ba)

Artist Asante artist

Date20th century

MediumWood, beads, and string

Dimensions13 1/2 x 6 1/8 x 2 3/8 in. (34.3 x 15.6 x 6.0 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Hanes

Object numberGL.72.19.42

On View

On view

Label TextPerhaps the most iconic African art form, akua’ba fertility figures (plural, akua’mma) are recognizable by their disklike heads, pole-like and often abstract tubular bodies, and stiff, projecting arms reminiscent of Egyptian ankhs. Because Asante are matrilineal, these figures are tenderly carried on the backs of women hoping to conceive baby girls and are always female.

The physical features of the akua’ba —high, oval forehead; neck rings signifying health and prosperity; delicate mouth set low on the face; and diagnostic scarification below the eyes and/or on the torso—is meant as a prayer, or an invocation for the beauty and healthiness of the anticipated child. While most figures are abstract, full-bodied examples, one of which is also in the NCMA collection, are quite rare and probably a twentieth-century innovation within the akua’ba sculptural tradition.Published References"Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 12, nos. 1 and 2 (December 1973), group of objects on long-term loan listed 68.

North Carolina Collects (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1967), cat. no. 95, illus. (b-w).

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed, Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (color) 5.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 40.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "North Carolina Collects," October 10-29, 1967, cat. no. 95, illus. (b-w).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "African Sculpture from the Hanes Corporation," February 11-August 15, 1972.

Greensboro, NC, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, September 9-30, 1973.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) makes images of its collection available online to support research and scholarship and to inform and educate the public. Certain works of art, as well as the photographs of those works of art, may be protected by copyright, trademark, or related interests not owned by the NCMA. The responsibility for ascertaining whether any such rights exist and for obtaining all other necessary permissions remains with the applicant. To request images and/or permissions from the NCMA, please complete our online request form.