[Double Figure] Asante artists carve single wooden figures that women customarily tuck into their skirts. This double figure is unusual and probably occupied a shrine. The Asante believe that the figures ensure fertility, as well as the health and beauty of future children.

This figure's flat, disk-like head, high oval forehead, and ringed neck are conventions embodying Asante ideals of beauty.

Courtesy of the National Museum of African Art, acquisition grant from the James Smithson Society and museum purchase.

Double figure (akua'ba), Asante peoples, Ghana, early 20th century A.D., wood, glass, and beads

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