Queen's Bracelet

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Queen's Bracelet

Place of OriginAsante Group, Akan People, Ghana

DateMid 19th century

DimensionsMax Diam: 8.4 cm (3 5/16 in.);
Weight: 79.1 g. (2.54 oz. troy)

MediumGold; lost-wax casting with wire, repoussé, chasing, soldering

ClassificationJewelry

Credit LinePartial gift of Rahwae and Msimbi Shuman and partial purchase with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2009.328

Not on View

DescriptionOrnament in the shape of a woman's hand holding a rose.

Label TextThis set of bracelets once belonged to an Ashanti queen mother (mother of the ruler), a key advisor to the king. The oldest bracelet features strikingly asymmetrical twisted forms and incised decoration and a cowrie-shaped finial that symbolizes wealth, fertility, and status. The bracelet of braided wire has a cast ornament of a woman’s hand holding a rose, a design influenced by imported European jewelry and pattern-books. Hands symbolize authority among the Ashanti. The third bracelet represents royal power, with three cannons, two executioner’s swords, and stacks of protective soul discs (akrafokonmu). The queen mother wore the bracelet with cannons and swords on her right forearm, cannons facing forward, and the other two on her left forearm.Published ReferencesCf. Doran H. Ross, with contributions by Frances Marzio, Gold of the Akan from the Glassell Collection, exhibition catalogue, Houston, TX, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2002. Note: Alfred C. Glassell Jr. donated his collection of more than 900 objects of gold jewelry and ceremonial gilded objects made by the Akan peoples of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, was donated to the MFAH in 1997; a selection of 140 objects formed a world tour. Fig. 7.14A-D illustrates ball-tip bracelets, and Fig. 7.15 reproduces a plate of "Rolled Gold late Bracelets" from S. F. Myers & Co., New York, catalogue (1894) with related forms. Fig. 7.26A-D illustrates pendants and rings with hands holding flowers. Fig. 6.41A-C illustrates chief's bracelets with cannon. Cf. Fritz Falk, et al., Ife, Akan and Benin: West African Art from 2000 Years: Gold, Bronzes, Terracottas, exhibition catalogue, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Stuttgart, Arnold, 2000.Cf. M. D. McLeod, The Asante, London, British Museum Publications, 1981. Chapter 5, Gold and Gold-working, includes pp. 79-83 on the lost-wax technique used by an Asante goldsmith (egufo?).