Adangbe Wood Fetish Figure

The upper body is bound and layered, as if dressed for a long journey and still being packed.

This fetish figure is Adangbe, from Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is carved wood with pigment. Such figures were generally kept in shrines, and their specific meanings are rarely known to outsiders. The figure is tall and columnar, with a squared head and a long face. Carved arms and other elements cross the chest, held with cord and colored in red, violet and white. A wide wrapping of dark, stiff material encircles the waist. It is 5 inches wide, 5.5 deep and 22 high.

Its purpose belongs to those who made it, and its presence is plain enough.