This wooden sculpture sits on the wall of our TV room. It looks like a huge comb and I have no idea what it represents. I don’t even really know how we came to own it although I imagine it was given to us by our older daughter who spent a number of years in Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi).

I was able to find something like it on eBay, but with only one figure rather than the two we have. It’s described and a “Vintage African Ashanti Carved Wood Mother & Child Fertility Comb Sculpture“. The listing describes the sculpture as follows:

The Ashanti (Asanti) are an ethnic group with their own kingdom as a sub-nation in what is now Ghana in Western Africa. The Ashanti Kingdom has a long and illustrious history beginning in 1670.

This comb sculpture is a fertility symbol that is ornamental and not functional. It is hand carved from one solid piece of wood. The figure has a lovely face with detailed hair style and elaborate carved decorations on the back of the comb as pictured. The multi-colored surface appears to have been stained or painted with red and black, then covered with a white wash.