Ashanti, Ghana, circa 1940
Gold leaf over wood
Height 11 inches (27.9 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, New York
The finial rises from a fluted conical socket that would have seated the top of the staff, above which a rectangular block is set crosswise between two collars of stacked rings. A bird stands at the summit with its head turned back over its own body, the long curved beak reaching down toward the tail and the wings folded close against the flanks. Gold leaf covers the whole surface, worked over the carved detail so that the fluting, the ring courses, and the feather incisions read through the gilding, with the wood showing at the worn edges.
Staffs of this kind belonged to the okyeame, the counselor and spokesman who carried the chief's staff and spoke on his behalf at court among the Akan of Ghana. The finial carried the message, since each figure or motif corresponded to a proverb the spokesman could invoke, and a bird turning its head back over its body is read as sankofa, the injunction to reach back and recover what has been left behind. Gilding rather than solid gold is the normal treatment for these staffs, and the leaf was applied over a carved wooden core by specialists working for the court.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Ashanti, Ghana, circa 1940
Gold leaf over wood
Height 11 inches (27.9 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, New York
The finial rises from a fluted conical socket that would have seated the top of the staff, above which a rectangular block is set crosswise between two collars of stacked rings. A bird stands at the summit with its head turned back over its own body, the long curved beak reaching down toward the tail and the wings folded close against the flanks. Gold leaf covers the whole surface, worked over the carved detail so that the fluting, the ring courses, and the feather incisions read through the gilding, with the wood showing at the worn edges.
Staffs of this kind belonged to the okyeame, the counselor and spokesman who carried the chief's staff and spoke on his behalf at court among the Akan of Ghana. The finial carried the message, since each figure or motif corresponded to a proverb the spokesman could invoke, and a bird turning its head back over its body is read as sankofa, the injunction to reach back and recover what has been left behind. Gilding rather than solid gold is the normal treatment for these staffs, and the leaf was applied over a carved wooden core by specialists working for the court.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
