FANTI, Ghana. Wood, beautiful dark brown patina, red highlights, beads. Charming "Akuaba" fertility doll used to encourage fertility in young girls. Remarkable for its age and the quality of its carving, it represents a female figure with the essential lines of a perfectly modelled body with no arms, a ringed neck, a face of great beauty framed by raised eyebrows and a fine engraved decoration on the back of the flat head. Height: 50.5 cm. Provenance: Collection of Patrice CHRISTY, a renowned specialist in wildlife conservation, particularly in Africa. He has co-authored several works on biodiversity, and his work has made a major contribution to understanding and preserving bird species in Africa, particularly in Gabon and Sâo-Tomé et Principe. All his objects were collected in the 1970s.