Double-Figured Staff Finial
Akan Artist, Ghana

Details
Title
Double-Figured Staff Finial
Artist/Maker
Akan Artist, Ghana
Date
Late nineteenth–early twentieth century
Medium
Wood, brass tacks, white beads, and fiber
Dimensions
19 1/2 × 1 3/4 × 1 3/4 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from Fred and Rita Richman
Accession #
2009.25
On View
Currently not on view
This finial was once situated atop a staff that was used as a portable shrine to commemorate ancestors. In Akan culture, ancestors look over their descendents and promote their well-being. The upper, bearded figure represents an ancestral spirit and is seated on a standing male figure’s shoulders, serving as his guide. In Baule communities of the Ivory Coast, to be possessed is to have a spirit “fall upon” one. The possessed person is “ridden,” guided by the ancestral spirit.
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