This sculpture depicts a pair of seated figures carved from hardwood in a highly abstract style. Both figures sit with their legs raised, tapering to points at the ends. Their arms are long and pointed as well, reaching upwards and structuring the group along a vertical axis. In contrast, their heads are rounded, forming a calm formal counterpoint to the sharply pointed limbs. Although the figures face each other, their faces are directed toward the viewer, creating a visual tension between the relationship of the figures and their presence in the observer’s space. Such sculptures are associated with the coastal region around Prampram in present-day Ghana. They belong to the cultural context of the Ga Dangme, whose settlements stretch along the southeastern coast of Ghana. Within this cultural landscape, this type of hardwood sculpture is relatively rare and highly localized. The figures often appear as male-female pairs and are linked in scholarship to ritual practices, particularly ancestor veneration and grave contexts, although their exact function remains unclear due to the limited number of documented examples. The formal design of the figures follows an aesthetic logic of reduction. The bodies are not modeled naturalistically but reduced to a few concise forms: rounded heads, linear limbs, and pointed ends. This kind of abstraction is common in many West African visual traditions, where the human figure functions less as a realistic portrayal and more as a symbolic sign. Particularly striking is the tension between curves and points: while the heads form a closed, stable shape, the arms and legs create a dynamic, almost graphic flow of lines. Formally, the Prampram figures show interesting parallels to the figure studies of Oskar Schlemmer. Like Schlemmer’s Bauhaus sculptures and stage figures, the Prampram pair reduces the human form to essential geometric shapes, emphasizing the relationship between the figures and their interaction with space. The vertical axis of the limbs and the mutual orientation of the figures recall Schlemmer’s experiments with rhythmic composition and choreographed spatial arrangements, while the balance between rounded heads and pointed extremities creates a dynamic tension akin to that seen in Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet figures. The motif of the pair also reflects societal and cosmological concepts of complementarity. In many West African societies, male and female figures symbolize balance, social relationships, and order. The face-to-face positioning of the figures can thus be interpreted as a visual metaphor for dialogue, mutual complementarity, and communal bonding. At the same time, the shared gesture of raised arms creates a formal unity, presenting the pair as a coherent symbolic group. The people of Prampram belong to the broader Ga Dangme linguistic group, whose historical development is closely linked to migrations along the West African coast. Research indicates that these communities migrated from the interior of West Africa to the coast over several waves, settling in the area between Accra and the Volta Delta. They developed complex social structures shaped by fishing, coastal trade, and local ritual systems. Within this cultural context, certain forms of material culture emerged, including ritual objects, shrine furniture, ceremonial implements, and occasionally figurative wooden sculptures. Compared with neighboring regions such as the Akan or Ewe areas, figurative sculpture played a less central role in Ga Dangme art. This explains why Prampram figures are relatively rare and only sporadically discussed in art-historical literature. Due to their rarity, Prampram sculptures appear only occasionally in major museum collections. Institutions in Ghana hold some objects from the Ga Dangme context, including the National Museum of Ghana, whose ethnographic collection preserves ritual objects, shrine furniture, and figurative woodcarvings from the region. Similarly, the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography at the University of Ghana holds smaller collections of Ga and Dangme objects, including ritual wooden carvings and religious artifacts. Outside Ghana, these sculptures generally appear in ethnological collections or private collections of African art. Many pieces were brought to Europe in the twentieth century by collectors or art dealers, often with limited historical documentation, and some subsequently entered museum or research collections through auctions and private sales. The Prampram figure pair described here is therefore not only an aesthetically striking example of West African hardwood sculpture but also a rare testament to a regional visual tradition. Its formal reduction, the tension between rounded and pointed forms, and the symbolic pairing point to a visual language expressing relationship, community, and spiritual presence in concentrated sculptural form. At the same time, the sculpture serves as a reminder that many regional African art traditions survive only in fragments, often through a handful of preserved objects whose cultural significance is gradually revealed through research and museum collecting practices. Height: 35 cm / 34 cm Weight: 300 g / 270 g CAB38568