250601 - Old African Extremely Rare Prampram sculpture - Ghana

African Rare Prampram sculpture from Ghana.
Signs of ritual use and age, rubbed with kaolin.
Size are 48 cm high.

This Prampram sculpture is dated mid of the 20th century and comes with a certificate of authenticity.

The sculpture,, standing straight, denied of feet. No traces of genitalia. Its elongated bust takes up more than half the size of the sculptures diameter, compared to the smaller legs. It has two incrusted holes on the top of the chest, suggesting its nipples. The arm hanging down alongside the torso, have no hands either. The thin cylindric neck carries an oval shaped head, simply carved with minimal traits. These small rounded carved holes are the same size and shape throughout giving an astonished attitude. The mouth is in „awe“, the eyes are looking straight ahead.

Baba Sylla, once the dealer of Karl Heinz Krieg, Germany, who brought the first extremly rare PramPram sculptures to the West (Second to last photo sequence).

"A great discovery were the so called "Prampram" sculptures, which are stylistically related to the Northern part of the small tribes in Northern Ghana and Togo, in particular the Moba. In my interview Baba Sylla, Accra, Ghana, isn't speaking about a "tribe“, he named it "a great family", which seems to be incorrect under anthropological aspects, but it is a link to the fact, how small this "tribe" is or was in reality. May be this is the reason that these sculptures are unknown in literature. Only Karl-Heinz Krieg (short before his death) conducted unpublished researches with voice protocols close to the hut, where these sculptures were once part of a shrine. But a friend of him told me that Mr. Krieg had no possibility to access the hut."

Lit.: Dogbe, B.K. (1977). “The human form as a central theme in art” in Image (Journal of the College of Art), Interview with Baba Sylla, the well known Antique dealer in Accra, Ghana, who collected these sculptures the first time.

Fieldphoto, Karl Heinz Krieg, around 2010, in front of the house of Baba Sylla with his (last photo sequence).