This beautiful gold head was made by the Akan
peoples of what was once appositely named the
Gold Coast – now Ghana. The Akan are a loose
assemblage of tribes – including the Akuapem,
the Akyem, the Ashanti, the Baoulé, the Anyi, the
Brong, the Fante and the Nzema – that share
general cultural trends while maintaining
separate tribal identities. Their society is highly
ritualised, with numerous gods under a main
deity who varies according to the group in
question (Onyame – the Supreme One – is the
Asante deity), and a host of lesser gods
(Abosom) who receive their power from the
principal god, and are mostly connected with the
natural world (earth, ocean, rivers, animals etc).
The society is ruled by Asantahenes, and a host
of minor chiefs who claim royal status through
their connection with the land and the founders
of villages upon it. One factor that unites the
Akan is the fact that they took a golden stool as
their emblem and rose up against the European
invaders in the 18th century. They have also
staved off interest from Northern Islamic groups.
The main reason for this imperial interest was
the long history of gold mining and gold working
in the area, which has been taking place for at
least 600 years.
The Akan consider gold to be the embodiment of
sunlight and a physical manifestation of life’s
vital force, or “kra”. The economy is based upon
the trade in gold, which is most prominently
used for the manufacture of regalia for the royal
courts. For example, “Akrafokonmu” (lit. “soul
washer’s disk”) pendants are worn by a series of
beautiful young people whose energy replenishes
that of the king. Small secular pieces are also
known, but have little social value beyond
asserting the wealth of the wearer. The most
important pieces are those that send social
signals, and that mark out the wearer as
something out of the ordinary. Gold pieces have
been used as sword mounts, sceptre heads,
diadems and the heads of translation staffs,
among much else. It is likely that the current
piece was also once used as an adornment for a
piece of courtly regalia.
The piece was made using the cire perdue (lost
wax) process, in which a wax model of the piece
is made then moulded in clay to provide a final
receptacle for the molten metal. The face bears
impressions indicating that textiles or reeds/
rushes were pressed into the wax original to
provide textural variety. The face is reminiscent
of Asie Usu (bush spirit) and blolo bla/bian (spirit
spouse) figures, which characterise the artistic
repertoire of the Baule – one of the seven tribes
within the Akan polity. However, the piece is
highly unusual.
It is the face of a very well-
nourished young (?) male, looking upwards as if
designed to be viewed from above. He has
exaggeratedly rotund cheeks, pursed lips and a
round frontal. The nose is as broad as the
mouth, and protrudes only as far as the cheeks.
The eyes are oval and heavy-lidded with carefully
incised, dashed eyelashes on the lower eyelids.
The eyes are surmounted by thin, arched
eyebrows and a coiffure comprising five thick
anteroposteriorly-oriented ridges running from
the apex of the high forehead to the base of the
neck. The middle three crests feature a row (two
in case of the central crest) of spiralling coils that
is one of the hallmarks of Akan gold works.
These coils may represent beads that were
woven into the hair of the individual who this
sculpture commemorates. The relief is very high
and the quality of the casting is superb. The
whole head sits on a low pedestal neck, and
wears a necklace of dark beads that probably
considerably postdate the head’s manufacture.
The significance of the piece is hard to assess
without further contextual information. However,
certain points may be raised. Firstly, it was
clearly an object whose manufacture demanded a
considerable investment of time, skill and effort,
and this – combined with the expensive nature of
the raw material – would make it very much an
elite object. The form of the base makes it likely
to have been a finial of some sort; comparable
Akan pieces are often attached to linguist staffs,
fly-whisks, umbrella handles and swords/
daggers. The large size of the piece and the fact
it is made from solid gold rather than the
cheaper – and more common – gilded wood
versions makes the smaller alternatives unlikely,
and it is more probable that the piece was made
for the pommel of a large, ceremonial sword for
a major leader of the time.
The fact it is in the shape of a head – and a
highly unusual one at that – opens various fields
of possibility. It could represent the king himself;
obesity was a mark of prosperity and wealth, and
it is possible that he wanted himself to be thus
portrayed. Alternatively, it might have
represented the head of an enemy; the victory of
Asantehene Osei Kwadwo over Worosa of Banda
in 1765 was commemorated by making a sword
pommel in the shape of Worosa’s head, and
while the Asante are different from the Baule,
they are both included under the Akan sphere of
influence. Making trophies of the real or
symbolic heads of one’s enemies may thus may
have been a widespread tradition. Finally, it may
have served a commemorative function, in order
not to forget the deceased. While ceramic
commemorative heads are known, gold ones
have not been reported, although they would
presumably have operated in the same way.
This rare and beautifully-executed gold
masterwork would be the star of any serious
collection of African art.