SNK 1212-43

Akua’ba (Akwaba) Comb, Ashanti, Ghana 

H: 18, 5 cm (7,3″), W: 6,5 cm (2,6″)

This elegant comb with fine details is considered a prestige object by the Akan speaking women in Ghana. The Akan speaking women of Ghana include the Anyi, Ashanti, Baule and Fante. They all use wooden hair combs as decoration. Combs are obtained as gifts from admirers, or presented at marriage. Large bridal combs were prestigious and used to adorn the home. Depending on a woman’s wealth or beauty, she might own three or four.

Provenance: Private Danish collection. It was either acquired directly from Lau (Laurence) Sunde’s collection in Copenhagen, which dates back to the 1940s, or Lau (Laurence) Sunde was an adviser to the collector.
Sunde had a “Etnografica” boutique in 1948, that became recognized among collectors as the most specialized boutique of its kind at the time. Tribal and oriental artefacts were purchased from private collectors as well as at auctions in Paris, Amsterdam and London, among other places.

Full description of Lau (Laurence) Sunde will be forwarded by request.

Click here for more information about the Ashanti people

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