The female figure is distinguished by a long ringed neck, a finely incised hairstyle and a restrained, contemplative face. Her hands frame the child, whose elongated body rests horizontally across her thighs. The surface displays a nuanced light to medium brown patina, preserving visible traces of carving and use.

Within Akan, and particularly Asante, culture, motherhood holds an important place in the continuity of the lineage. Sculptures associated with fertility and childbirth could evoke conception, the protection of pregnancy and family prosperity. The celebrated akua’ba figures are the best-known expression of this symbolic world, although more developed compositions depicting mothers together with their children are also documented.

With its calm posture, frontal treatment and clearly articulated mother-and-child relationship, this sculpture offers a particularly evocative representation of maternity and lineage within the Asante sculptural tradition.

Carved from light, patinated wood (as seen here with this black patina), they represent a stylized woman with a disc-shaped head, cylindrical neck, reduced arms, tubular body, and ritual scarifications, particularly on the back of the head, where the motifs are not chosen randomly but follow a precise set of codes.

Their name means "child of Akua," the goddess of fertility. Carried on the back by pregnant women or those trying to conceive, these sacred dolls are offered at altars after consulting a diviner to ensure a healthy pregnancy and an uncomplicated birth.

Item brought in during the 1960s by its first owner who subsequently sold it.