One of a Pair of Shrine Figures

Arts of Africa

Late 19th/early 20th century

Ewe, Aja, or Fon
Ghana or Togo
Coastal West Africa

Open at the bottom and hollow within, this impressive figure [and its companion, 2005.238.1] is an essentially upside-down pot and was doubtlessly made by a potter. Figures such as this one have been described as protective and as representations of ancestors, and they may signify one of the many Vodun that come into being when an important person dies. Figures with the same tufted coiffure, but with squatter bodies, have been collected in southern Ghana and are said to have been brought there in the 1930s. Others come from the border between Togo and Republic of Benin. A male and female pair collected in Togo displays similar elongated bodies, flat, truncated arms and hands, and heavy-lidded expressions. [See also 2005.238.1].

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Ewe
Title: One of a Pair of Shrine Figures
Place: Ghana (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1875–1925
Medium: Terracotta
Dimensions: 59.7 × 27.3 cm (23 1/2 × 10 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Keith Achepohl
Reference Number: 2005.238.2

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection (The Art Institute and Yale University Press, 2005), pp. 100-101.

Art Institute of Chicago, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection, Dec. 3, 2005–Feb. 20, 2006, cat. 53.

Kalifa Diabate, United States, by 1996; sold to Douglas Dawson Gallery, Chicago, Ill., 1996; sold to Keith Achepohl, Iowa City, Iowa, by 2005; given to the Art Institute, 2005.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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