Objects
Yaw Sekyi-Baidoo

Anonymous artist, mid 20th century, wood an metal foil, length 135 cm, origin: Ghana; exhibited at Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich. © Museum Fünf Kontinente

The Elephant-Calf Icon on Asante Linguist Staff

Munich 201911 0 det      

 This contribution is part of the gallery                                                                                 

  Perspectives from Ghana on Museum Objects in Germany

 

The paper examines the elephant icon making up the finial of the linguist’s staff of the Asantehene of Ghana. It discusses the adoption of the motif of  the Mother Elephant with its Calf Standing on it as an icon of the Asantehene, and its cosmological implications including beliefs, philosophy and values. From the central point of view of the art, the paper discusses the aesthetics and ideology of intergenerational elephants both as a natural art and artistic construction, and the social, cultural and educational significance of the icon in the specific context of the Ashanti royalty and in the general Akan context.