girl gifts

Clad in a dress that hugs her graceful figure, a young woman wears her hair in an elabourate up-do. Daniel Nyadedzor carves a doll seen mostly among Ghana's Akan people, where a young man makes it a gift to the girl he hopes to marry.

Ornate repoussé covers the forehead and smooth cheeks of an adolescent girl, beautifully depicted in a sese wood mask. Perched on the head, a bird reaches a slender beak to caress the girl's nose. Designed by Evelyn Kafui Ahianyo, it is named Onuma, Akan for "Bird." A gift presented to Akan women in eastern Ghana during a girl's puberty rites, it affirms the suitor's commitment during courtship. "Apart from its decorative purposes, this piece gives the possessor an assurance of a blissful courtship leading to marriage," the artisan affirms.

With a face like the full moon, this beautiful mask depicts an Akuaba, an Akan word for the child of Akua, a girl born on Wednesday. The term also signifies a doll. Walter Kuma carves the symmetrical features, bright eyes and full lips. "I want people to believe in whatever they do and hope for success in the future," he says.

The mask is displayed on an iron stand.

This splendid jewelry box recognizes the omnipresence of god through gye nyame, the Adinkra symbol on the lid that means, "I am afraid of none except God." Deeply symbolic, Madam Adwoa has calls the box Effia, the name given to a baby girl born on a Friday. Madam Adwoa and the artisans at her workshop, Onyame Akwan Dooso, carve the sika adaka (jewelry box) from sese wood with hand-made tools. Once the desired shape has been achieved, it is delicately carved with traditional patterns and protected with mansion polish.

Full of joy, a little girl stands on her toes to hug her beloved llama. John Barrow masterfully creates this expressive sculpture, inspired by his admiration of Andean customs and traditions. He sculpts this piece with hand-carved segments of cedar, mahogany and ishpingo woods. He stains the woods with colourful natural dyes.

A colorful diamond motif adorns her forehead and embossed aluminum appears on her skirt. By Rita Addo Zakour, this sculpture depicts an Ashanti fertility doll. In West African society women place great importance on childbearing, and a married woman without children is sometimes shunned. Parents give such a doll to the newly married daughter, as its presence in the house is believed to have special powers. When worn by young married girls in a carrying cloth on the back, these dolls are reputed to ensure they will have children. The artisan names this doll Dzigbordi, which means "patience" in the Ewe language.