Akauba Fertility Doll

• Title Akauba Fertility Doll
• Category Sculpture
• Medium Wood
• Dimensions 12"h x 4"w
• Year Completed Undated
• Description Trading gold, ivory, and slaves, as early as the 1600s the Asante developed a powerful empire in what is now southern Ghana. Led by their monarch, the Asantehene, the Asante continue to wield significant political, economic, and cultural influence even today. According to legend, the Asante fertility doll originated when a woman named Akua was unable to get pregnant. Acting on the advice of a local shrine priest, she commissioned a carver to fashion a small wooden doll which was then consecrated by the priest. Akua cared for the doll, suckling and washing it, wrapping it in cloth, presenting it with gifts, and carrying it on her back as though it were a real baby. Women in Akua’s village mocked her, calling the doll Akua’ba (Akua’s baby). However, after she gave birth to a healthy baby girl, other women believed in the power of the doll to bring fertility. They then adopted the practice, often giving Akuaba dolls to their own daughters. Once a woman becomes pregnant, the doll may be returned to the shrines of the spirits responsible for the pregnancy. A large number of dolls at a shrine is seen as proof of the power of the spirit and its priest. Akuaba dolls, which are always female, feature a large head with a high forehead, a small mouth, rings of fat around the neck, breasts, and the hint of a navel. The dolls have short horizontal arms and a round base instead of feet. They are flat, making it easier to strap them to one’s back. While children are highly valued in every African society, the matrilineal Asante especially value girl children since a family name persists only through the female line. Unless one has matrilineal descendants, one cannot be honored after death as an ancestor. Today, Akuaba dolls are among the most recognizable African art forms. Workshops in Ghana produce large numbers of them as souvenirs for tourists or as decorative items for the export market.
• Artist Asante Ghana
• Credit John and Janet Yoder Collection
• Location Library Art Storage I6
• Accession Number 2022.0195.b
• Status Available Request this art work
  
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