- 369
Akan Terracotta Memorial Head, Ghana
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- terracotta
- Height: 7 1/2 in (19.1 cm)
Provenance
Private Collection, France, acquired in 1982
Exhibited
Galeries Lafayette, Paris, L'Idéal Féminin dans L'Art Africain, February 22 - March 24, 2001
Literature
Galeries Lafayette, L'Idéal Féminin dans L'Art Africain, Paris, 2001, p. 38
Catalogue Note
Described by European observers as early as the beginning of the 17th century, mma terracotta heads were mostly funerary portraits honouring the memory of important individuals and, through them, the history of their people. They were placed on altars near the tomb of the deceased and offered an idealized image of their beauty and of some of their individual features. See Marees (in LaGamma, 2012: 79-83) for further discussion.
This magnificent head is one of the most beautiful Akan terracotta heads known. The cranial deformation, practiced by the Akan people in pre-colonial times following an ideal of beauty, as well as the elaborate hairstyle identify this head as representation of a member of the aristocratic class. The rarity of the iconography of cranial deformation, archaic style and overall surface condition suggest great age.