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Fanti Icon
Fanti Icon, Ghana. Wood Pigment. Beads.
Height: 30"
As opposed to the enlarged circular head of Akuaba (Akwaba, akwaaba) of the Ashanti people of Ghana, the Fanti fertility gods' heads were rectangular in shape. Oral history spoke of their being blessed by priests and thought to be able to help barren women conceive.
They were carried by women who wanted children and treated as if they were such. It could also be argued that in the African mythology, one would keep the deity around even after conceiving one's children, to help raise a healthy, emotionally sound and abundant (wealthy) family.
There is an age break in one ear, probably from extensive use. Old Africans would have welcomed this as proof of having been used extensively by the family that owned it.

Ezn. 146



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