For centuries, southern Ghana and the Ivory Coast have had highly stratified kingdoms that use elaborate symbols of status to signify an individual's position in society. Among the Fante and the Akan, for example, high-ranking advisors to the king, called linguists, carry gold staffs in royal processions. These staffs, which are made of carved wood covered with thin sheets of gold, often have carvings at the top illustrating proverbs or messages from the king to his subjects. At the top of this staff, for example, a mouse attempts to enter a pouch on a cat's back, a reference to the proverb, "It is only a foolish mouse that tries to get into the cat's bag." In other words, it is a foolish person who dares to meddle in the king's business.
Catalogue Description:
The staff is carved in wood and covered with gold leaf. It is made in three sections, not including the detachable carved finial. Each of the three sections comprising the staff has a carved surface decorated with different motifs, such as herringbone, lozenge-shape and barber pole. The middle of each section is encircled by a raised band with geometric patterns. The finial represents a cat with a mouse crawling up its back towards its pouch which is attached around the cats neck by a cord. The cat's left paw is raised.
Condition: Leaf very thin and flaking off in parts.
