Wooden Stool
Museum of Mankind, London.
This wooden stool is found among the Asante Peoples of Ghana. The stool is made of wood with hammered silver strip and carved from a single block of wood with a rectangular bottom, and concave seat on a central open work of four columns. There are variations in the supports, but overall the shapes remain the same.
Stools are great symbols of power and divinity of Asantehene. It must never be sat on or touch the ground and has its own chair.[1] Each Asantehene has their own stool made on his accession. Every stool is linked to the individual throughout life. Stools belonging to office holders are blackened with soot and placed in the stool room upon death. This particular stool is an example of one that has not been blackened. “The black stool is believed to be inhabited by the spirit of the head of the lineage and to possess magical qualities. The black stool is in fact seen as a substitute for the physical body of the dead person.”[2]
[1] Werner Gillon, A Short history of African Art, (New York,New York: Facts on File Publications, 1984), 146.
[2] Robert Brain, Art and Society in Africa, (Hong Kong: Sheck Wah Tong Printing Press Ltd, 1980), 182.
Stools are great symbols of power and divinity of Asantehene. It must never be sat on or touch the ground and has its own chair.[1] Each Asantehene has their own stool made on his accession. Every stool is linked to the individual throughout life. Stools belonging to office holders are blackened with soot and placed in the stool room upon death. This particular stool is an example of one that has not been blackened. “The black stool is believed to be inhabited by the spirit of the head of the lineage and to possess magical qualities. The black stool is in fact seen as a substitute for the physical body of the dead person.”[2]
[1] Werner Gillon, A Short history of African Art, (New York,New York: Facts on File Publications, 1984), 146.
[2] Robert Brain, Art and Society in Africa, (Hong Kong: Sheck Wah Tong Printing Press Ltd, 1980), 182.
Fertility Dolls
Fowler Museum of Cultural History
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The Akua ma of the Asante is also known as fertility dolls.
These items originally start as spiritually activated figures for fertility
purposes and in some cases eventually become children’s play toys. The fertility dolls are
one of the best known images from Africa. Similar to These ones fertility dolls
have cylindrical bodies with no appendages and disk shaped heads . Traditional stories tell of a
woman named Akua who was instructed by a priest to carry one of these figures
empowered by a shrine. She was said to have gotten pregnant and given birth to
a healthy baby through divine intervention.[1] These Items
although are sometimes given to children as playthings they are still
considered to be spiritually charged items that help bless women with healthy
children.
[1]Monica Blackmun Visona, Robin Poynor , and Herbert m. Cole, A History Of Art In Africa, Second Edition, (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education Inc, 2008), 211.
[1]Monica Blackmun Visona, Robin Poynor , and Herbert m. Cole, A History Of Art In Africa, Second Edition, (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education Inc, 2008), 211.