Monolith Aka Ashanti - Lot 146

Monolith Aka Ashanti Made of water-worn basalt stone, this monolith is carved with a face above what appears to be a prominent belly marked by a navel. It represents an ancestor or the emblem of a secret society. Cross river, Nigeria H: 33.5 cm without the base. Pedestal. It was with Philip Allison's 1968 study, African Stone Sculpture, that the uniqueness on the African continent and the local importance of the monoliths of the Cross River Valley were apprehended. Naturally polished by the river water, they were chosen according to their size and shape, to be carved with a face. According to the testimonies collected at the time from the elders, they represented lineage ancestors or the emblem of secret societies. If the stones vary from one to another, they are all male, decorated with a beard and an umbilicus, the seat of lineage in all African culture.