Linguist Staff

Original Language TitleOkyeame Poma

CultureAkan peoples, Asante subgroup

Date1950s

MediumGold leaf, wood, and paint

DimensionsOverall: 61 inches (154.94 cm)
Part (finial): 10 1/2 × 4 × 8 inches (26.67 × 10.16 × 20.32 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund

Object number2013.48.1.A-C

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

African Art

Terms

DescriptionThis wooden staff, comprising a stem and gold leafed figurative top (finial), depicts two Agapornes, inseparable love birds famous for zealously caring for each other, and references the proverb, "If a bird sits on its eggs, it knows someone else will take care of its duties", which espouses interdependence among a community’s office holders as necessary for the good of the state.
Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Gold aus Afrika: aus der Privatsammlung von René und Denise David, Zürich, Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Linz, Austria, February 15-May 27, 2001, no. 97.

Afrikanisches Gold, Galerie Walu, Zürich, Switzerland, July 26-September 15, 2001.

L'Oiseau et le serpent, Musée Romain, Lausanne-Vidy, Switzerland, March 15-June 2, 2002.

Gold in der Kunst Westafrikas, Helvetisches Goldmuseum, Burgdorf, Switzerland, October 18, 2009-April 18, 2010; Galerie Walu, Zürich, May 22-June 26, 2010.

Provenance

With Galerie Walu, Zürich, Switzerland, by 1990-2013 [1];

Purchased from Galerie Walu by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2013.

NOTES:

[1] René (1928-2015) and Denise (1928-2011) David operated Galerie Walu until 1999, when their son Jean assumed ownership of the gallery. This staff was reproduced in an advertisement for Galerie Walu in 1990 ( Arts d'Afrique Noire, 76, 1990: 64) and purchased from Galerie Walu by the Nelson-Atkins in 2013. The staff was published several times in the intervening years as in the David private collection (see Michèle Coquet, Arts de cour en Afrique noire (Paris: Société Nouvelle Adam Biro, 1996), 104-105 and L'Oiseau et le serpent, Musée Romain, Lausanne-Vidy, Switzerland, March 15-June 2, 2002).

Published References

Galerie Walu advertisement, Arts d'Afrique Noire, 76, 1990: 64, (repro.).

Michèle Coquet, Arts de cour en Afrique noire (Paris: Société Nouvelle Adam Biro, 1996), 104-105, (repro.).

Michèle Coquet, trans. Jane Marie Todd, African Royal Court Art (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1998), 107, 115-116, (repro.).

Peter Baum, Gold aus Afrika: aus der Privatsammlung von René und Denise David, Zürich, exh. cat. (Linz, Austria: Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, 2001), 103, 144, (repro.).

François Mottas, L'Oiseau et le serpent, exh. cat. (Lausanne: Musée Romain Lausanne-Vidy, 2002), 31, (repro.).

Jean and Jane David, et al, Gold in der Kunst Westafrikas, exh. cat. (Burgdorf: Helvetisches Goldmuseum and Zürich: Galerie Walu, 2009), 19, (repro.).

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