Ashanti Standing Figure with Bananas on Head with Machete

A heavy bunch of bananas balanced overhead with one hand, a machete held low in the other.

This standing figure with bananas on head with machete is Ashanti, from Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is bronze. Ashanti metalworkers are well known for lost-wax casting, and small figures of people at work are a lively part of that tradition. The thin figure stands on a ring base, long legs apart, one arm raised to steady the curving stalk of fruit on the head. The other hand holds a short blade, and a bell-shaped form hangs at the front. It is 2.75 inches wide, 1.75 deep and 6 high.

Market day, and nobody is dropping anything.