Queen-Mother and Child Maternity Statue

This large female figure holding left breast in hand is seated on a detachable stool with a detachable baby figure laying over her legs. The figure is depicted with trade-beads around the neck, right arm, and left arm.

The Asante and Fante tribes are both of the Akan speaking communities, and they both also employ the use of Queen-Mother maternity sculptures in their ancestral shrines.

The maternity statue is called Esi-Mansa; normally such figures are kept in royal or commoner shrines where it emphasizes the importance of family and ancestral lineage traditions.

Provenance: The first known American collector was the renowned collector Lawrence P. Kolton and Rachel Angotti of Michigan City, Indiana, between the years of 1969 and 1979.