Fertility Doll Wood Sculpture 'Precious Child'

Colorful beads cover her face and her eyes take the shape of cowry shells, used as currency. By Rita Addo Zakour, this sculpture depicts an Ashanti fertility doll. In West African society, women place great importance on childbearing and a married woman without children is often shunned. Parents give such a doll to the newly married daughter, as its presence in the house is believed to have special powers. When worn by young married girls in a carrying cloth on the back, these dolls are reputed to ensure they will have children.