Figure

A master female potter among the Asante created this clay sculpture to commemorate the departed. While not a naturalistic portrait, this figure depicts features associated with the dead person such as coiffure or facial marks. The rolls of flesh on the neck are a widespread artistic convention for beauty, prosperity, and well-being. After placing the memorial in a sacred forest clearing, family members invoked the spirit of the departed and asked it to accept the sculpture and facilitate communications with ancestors.

Credit: Gift of Katherine C. White