disc pendant;
soul disc
- Museum number
- Af1818,1114.6
- Title
- Series: Asante Gold
- Description
-
Lost wax casting in gold of a bi-facial open-work disc pendant (akrafokonmu). The centre of the disc pendant is formed from two circles that are cast with a void between them. They are decorated by nine small flat coiled spirals with raised bosses which are arranged in a symmetrical pattern. The main body of the disc pendant is configured into a series of concentric open-work rings that fan out from the centre. The rings are subdivided by equally spaced vertical lines that give the overall casting a net or webbed appearance. Some of the areas that were intended to be open-work have mis-cast as solid. The pendant can be suspended by means of an integral horizontal hollow tube that extends the width of the pendant.
- Production date
- 1817
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 6 centimetres
-
Weight: 43.12 grammes
-
Depth: 0.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- This disc pendant appears to combine two types of decoration, the open-work concentric circle pattern with a centre consisting of spirals, the design of which is known in Asante as akyekyedee akyi (or akyiri), ‘the back of the tortoise.’ The spirals are thought to resemble the plates on the shell of a tortoise.
- Location
- On display (G1/fc24)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1996 May-Sep, New York, Guggenheim Museum, Africa: The Art of a Continent
- Condition
- Good.
- Acquisition date
- 1818
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1818,1114.6
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: Af1855,1215.2
