ES

Akan (Ashanti) gold and goldweights

· 1 min read · Jewelry around the world

Gold sankofa bird looking backward and a goldweight

For the Akan of Ghana, especially the Asante (Ashanti) kingdom, gold is tied to royalty, prestige and life force. The gold jewelry and regalia of chiefs and kings are an essential part of ceremony.

Who and where #

The Akan live in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The Asante kingdom was for centuries a major trading power built on gold. At ceremonies kings and chiefs wear solid gold pieces: rings, bracelets, necklaces and large ornaments.

Materials and techniques #

  • Alluvial gold, worked by casting and hammering.
  • Goldweights (abrammuo) of brass or bronze, cast by lost wax, used to weigh gold dust.
  • Adinkra symbols on cloth, jewelry and objects.

Traditional pieces and their meaning #

  • Goldweights: small figures of animals, objects and scenes, many tied to proverbs.
  • Ceremonial jewelry: gold necklaces, bracelets and rings of kings and chiefs.
  • Adinkra symbols: Sankofa (the bird looking backward) means “go back and fetch what was forgotten”; Gye Nyame, “except God”, expresses divine supremacy.

The tradition today #

The Golden Stool (Sika Dwa Kofi) is the sacred symbol of the Asante people, and it is not a piece of jewelry. Akan jewelry is produced today in workshops in Ghana, which reinterpret Adinkra symbols in contemporary pieces.

See also #

This entry was drafted with the help of AI and is pending review by the author.