Asafo Company Flag (Frankaa)
Arts of Africa
Asafo is a Fante military institution, made up of local companies, each with its own name, number, regalia, shrine and set of flags, and imagery. This Asafo flag most likely dates from before Ghanaian independence in 1957 (note the British Union Jack in the upper-left canton) and served as an emblem of pride. The image in the field, of a creature looming over a decapitated corpse, suggests a severe warning to hostile parties. Fante arts, from a coastal area subject to more than five hundred years of direct interaction with European traders, bear witness to a long history of the creative borrowing of European forms. The three-headed monster here was probably inspired by the mythical creatures of European heraldry.
CULTURE
Fante
MEDIUM
Textile with appliqué and embroidery
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS
- Place made: Central Region, Ghana
- Place collected: La, Greater Accra Region, Ghana
DATES
early to mid–20th century
DIMENSIONS
56 x 36 1/2 in. (142.2 x 92.7 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Arts of Africa
ACCESSION NUMBER
2009.39.1
CREDIT LINE
Designated Purchase Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
The object is a double sided, textile (cotton?) Asafo flag. The flag is composed of a patchwork of red, black, blue and beige (cotton?) fabrics sewn together with beige, red or black (cotton?) thread. Appliqué and embroidery are used as design elements on both sides of the flag.
The hoist of the flag is made of a band of beige fabric that has been folded over and sewn along the vertical edge to allow room for a pole. An exterior border of fringe, consisting of two layers of cut beige fabric, is found on both the top and bottom lengths and the fly end of the flag. Immediately within the fringe is a single band of alternating red and beige triangular, fabric segments, which interlock to form a bi-color square pattern.
The canton (upper left quadrant) is a Union Jack made with a patchwork of red, beige, and blue fabric pieces.
The field consists primarily of a black fabric background with appliqué design elements. There is a large, three-headed monster located in the central section of the field. The monster has wings, a curly tail with an arrow tip, and talons. It is composed primarily of beige fabric with red appliqué details on the feet and tail. Black embroidery is used to delineate the swirl of the tail and the outline and pupil of the eye; red to accent the edges of the wings and depict the tongue, whiskers(?), and eye; and beige to depict the teeth. All embroidery appears to be done in a chain stitch.
There is a headless figure and shot gun visible below the Union Jack. The figure is a peach-colored fabric appliqué with red embroidery at the neck and along the waist, and black embroidery delineating the fingers. The gun is a red fabric appliqué with red embroidery delineating the trigger and trigger guard.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Fante. Asafo Company Flag (Frankaa), early to mid–20th century. Textile with appliqué and embroidery, 56 x 36 1/2 in. (142.2 x 92.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 2009.39.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2009.39.1_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 2009.39.1_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
