Item: Ewe Fertility Figure Specifications: 22 x 10 x 7 cm Origin: Togo & Ghana (see ethnographic notes below) Medium: Timber Carving & Pigment. Note: Sale does not include display stand.


Shipping

For international shipping, we offer Registered Airmail (6 to ten days) For domestic shipping, we use Ordinary Parcel Post or Express Post both with Tracking. Purchases will be shipped no later than one business day following receipt of payment. We can provide quotes for insurance, please ask for a quote at time of purchase. For international customers who want a tracking service, we offer International Express with tracking, please request a quote prior to purchase.

 

 Returns

 African Origins sells tribal objects which have been used, in some cases, for many, many years. We ask that you carefully study the photographs relating to each object prior to committing to purchase. In the event that you are unhappy with your purchase for any reason, we accept refunds within seven days of purchase. We offer a full refund or a credit note valid for twelve months, which ever you prefer.

 

 About African Origins

 

African Origins has been trading online since 2007. We are constantly on the look out for interesting objects to add to our collection. Our tribal collection is sourced from tribal dealers,auction houses, private collections the world over and also collected in the field.. Where possible, we will specify the provenance of important individual tribal objects.

 

 

Feedback

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 The Ewe people, who live in southern Togo and Ghana are the eastern neighbors of Asante, make small wooden statues and textiles with figurative motifs and symbols. These Aklama statues, roughly carved out of wood represent the protective spirits and are kept by the Ewe in their local shrines. Mainly the Ewe are known by their dolls. Some scholars believe that they were used only as fertility dolls, other consider them toys. The women keep these dolls under their mattresses to ensure fertility.

 

Dolls with broken arms or legs were considered by the Ewe as more powerful. They ensured that children would be born healthy, with their arms and legs intact. The Ewe also produce clay figures of phallic form, called legba, used as tribal or family fetish representing the spirit of fecundity and generative power. Like the Yoruba people in Nigeria, they carve ibeji twins figurines, for protection of survivor after death of a twin. They also produce animal figures in black clay, copper figures in lost-wax technique, representing animals and small masks.