- Museum number
- Af1900,0427.1
- Title
- Series: Asante Gold
- Description
-
Ceremonial cap (denkyemkye); made of antelope hide with a scalloped fringe and long cheek straps on either side. Straps have additional pieces of hide attached to the ends which have long tufts of antelope fur sewn to them. Cap, flaps and fringe have twenty ornaments added to their exterior surfaces arranged symmetrically in groups. All have wood cores which are covered with sheet gold held in place by thin gold wire staples. The ornaments on the cap consist of: 8 model lower human jaw-bones (abogye); 3 heraldic-style lions mounted on rectangular plinths (4th is missing); 4 miniature slain enemy heads mounted on rectangular plaques (ntoa); 2 antelope or bush cow horns; 1 finial in the form of a pineapple.
Cheek straps are decorated in similar fashion with the following ornaments: 1 gold plated cockle shell (adam); 1 natural red sea-shell (adam); 1 model of lower human jaw-bone (abogye). Scalloped sides of flaps and fringe are ornamented with numerous small hollow lost wax cast gold and silver crotal bells (donnomma).
Interior of cap lined with yellow silk with amulets (safi) attached: one red silk wrapped amulet attached to base of cap at the back of the head; 2 black velvet wrapped amulets situated either side of the top of the cap; 2 amulets bound in white cotton thread, the smaller attached to the top of the larger, which is fixed to the underside of the apex of the cap.
- Production date
- 1800-1895 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 24 centimetres
-
Weight: 531 grammes
-
Width: 56 centimetres
-
Depth: 21 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Ceremonial cap possibly worn by a sword-bearer of the Asantehene or the Asantehene himself.
-
This cap is protected by a variety of gold amulets (bosum) on the exterior and Islamic amulets (safi’s) in the interior. It was probably worn as part of a larger costume for ritual ceremonies and events where the wearer was exposed to physical and/or spiritual forces and external threats.
-
See Collection File: Af1900,0427.1-63.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1981-1984 20 Feb- 18 Mar, London, Museum of Mankind, Asante Kingdom of Gold
1984-1985 16 Oct-17 Mar, American Museum of Natural History, New York, Asante Kingdom of Gold
2011 6 Oct-2012 19 Feb, London, BM, Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman
2018 15 Apr- 12 Aug, Dallas, USA, Dallas Museum of Art, The Power of Gold: Asante Gold Regalia from Ghana
2024 1 May - 2027, 12 April, Kumasi, Ghana, Manhyia Palace Museum, Homecoming
- Condition
- Good; one lion ornament missing (prior to acquisition).
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Anglo-Ashanti War 26 Dec 1895 - 4 Feb 1896
- Acquisition date
- 1900
- Acquisition notes
- Taken from the royal palace in Kumasi by British troops during the fourth Anglo-Ashanti (Anglo-Asante) War, 1895-6. Formed part of the official government loot. Associated with the Asantehene Prempeh I and recorded as an item of his regalia (with items numbered Af1900,0427.2-10, 12-22).
Purchased by the Museum from the Gold Coast Government through the Crown Agents for the Colonies in 1900. Items of regalia (as listed above) were purchased for a total of £150.00.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1900,0427.1
