Ashanti Fertility Figure

his Ashanti fertility figure from Ghana in Africa features a disk-headed akuaba figure and is one of the most recognizable forms in African art. Akua ba are primarily carried by women who hope to conceive a child. The flat, disklike head is a strongly exaggerated convention of the Akan ideal of beauty: a high, oval forehead, slightly flattened. The flattened shape of the sculpture also serves a practical purpose, since women carry the figures against their backs wrapped in their skirt, evoking the manner that infants are carried. The figure has been mounted on a more modern base for display purposes.