Akan, Ghana, 1920s
Terracotta
Height 5 1/2 inches (14 cm)
Provenance: Jason Osborne, Odessa, Texas; Dr. Saul Tittman, New York; Parke Bernet, with label on the underside
The head rises from a broad flaring collar on a tall ringed neck, the throat modeled in a series of raised bands and a small boss set at its base. The face is a narrow oval with the eyes closed under heavy lids, arched brows drawn in low relief, a straight nose, and a small full mouth, the whole held in a composed and inward expression. Above the brow a tall conical coiffure sweeps up and back to a point, pierced along its upper surface with rows of small holes, and the clay is fired to a grey brown with darker patches across the crown and the left cheek.
Akan terracotta heads were made by women potters in Ghana for funerary use, set at the grave or at a place of remembrance as a portrait of the deceased, the closed eyes and the still expression conventional to the type. The flaring collar allowed the head to stand without support at the site rather than being mounted, and the piercings in the coiffure may have held fiber or hair. Heads of this kind are the principal figurative tradition in Akan ceramics, distinct from the cast brass weights and the carved akua'ba for which the Akan are better known.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Akan, Ghana, 1920s
Terracotta
Height 5 1/2 inches (14 cm)
Provenance: Jason Osborne, Odessa, Texas; Dr. Saul Tittman, New York; Parke Bernet, with label on the underside
The head rises from a broad flaring collar on a tall ringed neck, the throat modeled in a series of raised bands and a small boss set at its base. The face is a narrow oval with the eyes closed under heavy lids, arched brows drawn in low relief, a straight nose, and a small full mouth, the whole held in a composed and inward expression. Above the brow a tall conical coiffure sweeps up and back to a point, pierced along its upper surface with rows of small holes, and the clay is fired to a grey brown with darker patches across the crown and the left cheek.
Akan terracotta heads were made by women potters in Ghana for funerary use, set at the grave or at a place of remembrance as a portrait of the deceased, the closed eyes and the still expression conventional to the type. The flaring collar allowed the head to stand without support at the site rather than being mounted, and the piercings in the coiffure may have held fiber or hair. Heads of this kind are the principal figurative tradition in Akan ceramics, distinct from the cast brass weights and the carved akua'ba for which the Akan are better known.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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