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Source Description
Gold discs dangling on the chests of Akan state officials and elites showed their rank and duties. Worn by these <em>akrafo </em>(“soul people”) since the 1800s, they are often linked to <em>kradware, </em>officials who represent and purify (“wash”) the king’s soul. To make them, goldsmiths cast or flattened gold. Muslim North African gold coins likely inspired their form and material, while concentric water rings influenced their composition. This small disc is a typical pre-colonial example: <em>asantehene</em> (king) Prempeh I reportedly owned this disk. The British emptied his treasury after deposing and exiling him in 1896. Gold ornament making ceased until 1924; court officials now wear large discs.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
115163
label
Disk Pendant (akrafokɔnmu)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
115163
contentType
object
title
Disk Pendant (akrafokɔnmu)
description
Gold discs dangling on the chests of Akan state officials and elites showed their rank and duties. Worn by these <em>akrafo </em>(“soul people”) since the 1800s, they are often linked to <em>kradware, </em>officials who represent and purify (“wash”) the king’s soul. To make them, goldsmiths cast or flattened gold. Muslim North African gold coins likely inspired their form and material, while concentric water rings influenced their composition. This small disc is a typical pre-colonial example: <em>asantehene</em> (king) Prempeh I reportedly owned this disk. The British emptied his treasury after deposing and exiling him in 1896. Gold ornament making ceased until 1924; court officials now wear large discs.
date
1800s, before 1896
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80008268
genreSpecific
Jewelry
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 9.8 cm (3 7/8 in.); Overall: 1.3 cm (1/2 in.)
cul
Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Asante Empire/Kingdom, probably Kumasi, member of the goldsmiths’ guild
accession
1935.31
Source extras
tec
Gold
tombstone
Disk Pendant (akrafokɔnmu), 1800s, before 1896. Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Asante Empire/Kingdom, probably Kumasi, member of the goldsmiths’ guild. Gold; diameter: 9.8 cm (3 7/8 in.); overall: 1.3 cm (1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1935.310
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
Akan goldsmiths were organized into guilds, a kind of specialized group of artisans.
citations
citation
Sieber, Roy. <em>African Textiles and Decorative Arts</em>. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1972. P. 137.
page_number
P. 137.
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. “African Textiles and Decorative Arts.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 60, no. 9 (November 1973).
page_number
Repr. back cover.
citation
Wixom, William D. “African Art in the Cleveland Museum of Art,” <em>African Arts</em> 10, no. 3 (April 1977): 16-24.
page_number
Repr. p. 21.
citation
Sieber, Roy, and Roslyn Adele Walker. <em>African Art in the Cycle of Life</em>. Washington, DC: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987. Exhibition catalog.
page_number
p. 102, cat. no. 53, repr.
citation
Geary, Christraud M. and Andrea Nicolls. <em>Elmina: Art and Trade on the West African Coast</em>. Washington, DC: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. Exhibition catalogue.
page_number
Repr. p. 8.
citation
Hudon, François, Line Lamarre, and Michel Vervais. <em>Réalités : Histoire et éducation à La Citoyenneté. </em>Québec : ERP Inc., 2008.
page_number
Fig. 5.18.
citation
Milliken, William. "Exhibition of Gold." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>34, no. 9 (November 1947): 211-212.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 211-212; Reproduced: p. 235
citation
Petridis, Constantijn. <em>South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. 19, p. 68 - 69
citation
Sims, Lowery Stokes. <em>The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 32, no. 35
citation
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), and James Johnson Sweeney. <em>African Negro Art.</em> New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1935.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 39, no. 162
citation
Webb, Virginia-Lee, and Walker Evans. <em>Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art, 1935</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 22; reproduced: p. 23, fig. 13, p. 68, no. 18.
citation
Petridis, Constantine. "A World of Great Art for Everyone." In <em>Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display. </em>Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke, 104-121. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 112
citation
Brooklyn Museum. <em>Masterpieces of African Art. Exhibition Dates: October 21, 1954-January 2, 1955.</em> [Brooklyn]: Brooklyn Museum, 1954.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 40
citation
Cole, Herbert M., and Doran H. Ross. <em>The Arts of Ghana</em>. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California, 1977.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 153; reproduced: p. 155, fig. 324
citation
Robbins, Warren M., and Nancy Ingram Nooter. <em>African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989.</em> Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.
page_number
Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 202-203, fig. 515
citation
Walker, Roslyn A., Martha J. Ehrlich, Christraud M. Geary, M. D. McLeod, and Doran H. Ross. <em>The Power of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana. </em>Yale University Press, New Haven and London. Dallas : Dallas Museum of Art, 2018.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 101, cat. 58
creditline
Dudley P. Allen Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:01:39.057000
sourceId
115163
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Gold
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
40b755bee25c8ae2