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{
    "localId": "130309",
    "label": "Disk Pendant (akrafokɔnmu)",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "130309",
    "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 typical of pre-colonial examples. Gold ornament making ceased until 1924; court officials now wear large discs.",
    "date": "1800s",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.84",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q79912055"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Jewelry"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.84/1952.84_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.84/1952.84_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.84/1952.84_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Diameter: 11 cm (4 5/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Asante Empire/ Kingdom, member of the goldsmiths’ guild"
    ],
    "accession": "1952.84"
}

{
    "tec": "Gold",
    "tombstone": "Disk Pendant (akrafokɔnmu), 1800s. Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Asante Empire/ Kingdom, member of the goldsmiths’ guild. Gold; diameter: 11 cm (4 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1952.84",
    "collection": "African Art",
    "didYouKnow": "Gold miners from the Akan region once mined gold to make local objects like this and to supply gold for trade across trans-Saharan routes and into places as far away as Europe.",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Ratton, Charles. « Les bijoux en forme de disque etc. » Special Issue,<em> Présence Africaine </em>: <em>L'Art Nègre</em> 10-11. Paris : Aux Editions du Seuil (1951)",
            "page_number": "Ill. opp. p. 129, no. 53; text p. 146."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Jopling, Carol F., ed. <em>Art and Aesthetics in Primitive Societies</em>. NY: E.P. Dutton &amp; Co., Inc., 1971: 66."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Simms, Lowery Stokes. <em>The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006: 32."
        },
        {
            "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. 39"
        },
        {
            "citation": "William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, and Ralph T. Coe. <em>The Imagination of Primitive Man: A Survey of the Arts of the Non-Literate Peoples of the World.</em> Kansas City, Mo: The Museum, 1962.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 25, cat. no. 34"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.84",
    "creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 06:44:01.227000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.84/1952.84_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 130309,
    "dept": "African Art",
    "coll": "African Art",
    "med": "Gold",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.84/1952.84_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "1a37e75fdd9b4e80"
}