DMA - The Power of Gold

I am out grocery shopping and my nephew calls wondering if I would like to meet at the DMA and spend some time together.  Oh, absolutely.  Once this shopping is complete and things are put away, I am there.  I really need to get out of the house and have active conversation with someone.

Inside the door, I quickly walk up to the member's desk and get tickets for the recent exhibit:  The Power of Gold - Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana.  Bob is in the gift shop and after meeting up, into the exhibit we go.

The first part of the exhibit focuses on "goldweights."  According to the placard on the wall, "By the 17th century, Akan and Asante goldsmiths cast goldweights in the forms of humans, animals, plants, and various man-made objects.  Like some of the earlier geometric weights, representational goldweights were connected to proverbs and maxims.  For older figurative weights, many of their original associations have been forgotten.  Others have new meanings, as familiar proverbs differed among generations and geographic locations.  Adding to this complex visual communication, some proverbs carry multiple meanings.  In this display, figurative (representational) goldweights are grouped into several themes and time periods.  Broadly speaking, the human figure and animal subjects appear in goldweights starting in the 17th century.  Human figures range in age and activity.  Animals are equally diverse.  mammals, birds, fish, and insects are represented individually and in interactive groups."

 Around the next corner, we come to a section on stools.  These are crazy fascinating because they are really, really short.  That means it is time to read again.  "The most important and sacred Asante stool is the Golden Stool.  It represents the authority of the Asantehene (king), enshrines the soul of the nations, and symbolizes the kingdom's unity.  Made of solid gold, the Golden Stool never touches the ground; it is carried in processionals and has its own throne.  Prior to the establishment of the Asante kingdom, Akan peoples were organized in small independent states, each headed by a paramount chief.  Around 1701, in the city of Kumasi, several of these states united under the military and economic strength of the Asante.  According to Asante oral tradition, the kingdom was founded when Chief Priest Komfo Anokye miraculously caused the Golden Stool to descend from the sky onto the knees of Nana Osei Tutu, thereby designating him Asantehene Osei Tutu I, king of all the chiefdoms he had conquered.  The priest then ordered the chiefs of the formerly independent states to bury their existing regalia to signify their loyalty to the supreme Golden Stool."

 Now, in regards to the picture above, "the extraordinary size of this stool indicates it was owned by a royal.  It is a five-column ceremonial stool decorated with a gold disk at the seat's center and strips of gold on each corner.  In addition to the metal embellishments, the large central column features an intricate carved openwork pattern."

Now, onto umbrellas.  "In processionals and public events, huge umbrellas shade the king and chiefs.  Ceremonial umbrellas are made of fine cloths and topped with carved wood finials clad in gold foil.  Before the introduction of European umbrellas, the kind used broad leaves raised on a stick to cover the head.  The king has no fewer than twenty-three umbrellas, each with a symbolic finial and used on a specific occasions.  The most common finial is the babadua, a knobby locally grown bamboo that is used as a building material.  A symbol of toughness and resilience, bamboo was believed to have magical properties capable of repelling evil forces.  As with other representational aspects of Asante regalia, finials express proverbs.  A finial depicting a stylized porcupine refers to the saying 'If you kill a thousand, a thousand will come,' meaning that the Asante never run out of warriors just as porcupines never run out of quills.  Book imagery relates to the Bible and literacy, and refers to a ruler's educational achievements."

Next, we come to Royal Headdresses.  "The traditional Asante royal headdress is a velvet headband with attached gold ornaments.  The three crowns included in this exhibition contain a variety of gold-leafed wooden carvings, including stars, moons, shells, butterflies, eight-pointed crosses, and other motifs.  headdress adornments are not purely decorative.  They are another visual manner in which the Asante embed reminders and guidance.  Stars denote people, who are always on the mind of a ruler.  Stars are numerous and produce constant, collective light.  The moon, in contrast, shines brightly but waxes, wanes, and disappears, like a ruler, only to be replaced."

 "European-style crowns with lions flanking heart shapes differ greatly from the velvet headbands adorned with Muslim charms.  This breadth of a style and symbolism reflects the Asante's selective adoption of foreign traditions."

As we turn the next corner in the exhibit, my heart skips a beat.  Oooooh, fabric.  Bring it on.

First up is an Adinkra.  "In it's original red and black colors, adinkra is the traditional Asante mourning cloth; its name translates as 'saying farewell.'  With the introduction of brighter colors and machine printing, adinkra cloths have become more popular and can be seen at a variety of special occasions.  To make the designs, an adinkra artist hand stamps patterns onto wide strips of white or single-color fabric.  The stamps are made from peices of dried calabash (gourd) and they transfer a dark-colored dye made from the bark of the Badie tree.  Linear designs are drawn on the cloth with a metal comb-like tool.  The patterned strips are sewn edge to edge to complete the adinkra cloth.  Each individual adinkra symbol has a name and was originally associated with a proverb or story."

 Kente's are next.  They are the "best known and most popular of the Asante textiles.  Oral traditions credit a spider's web-making with having inspired two hunters to create the first kente.  Osei Tutu I, the first king of the Asante, reserved the cloth for royals.  Over time, with greater varieties of colors and materials, kente became accessible to more of the population.  Silk kente with named designs continue to be limited to Asante elites.  These cloths (called wrappers because of the way they are worn) are fashionable for both men and women.  For me, a kente wrapper circles the body and may drape over a shoulder like toga.  Women's kente include two-piece garments or modern, peplum-style long dresses.  The earliest kente color schemes were indigo blue, red, and white.  The expansion of trade routes across Africa brought brightly colored silks to the kindgom.  Asante weavers unraveled imported textiles, harvested their fine threads, and added new colors to kente designs.  Kente patterns typically extend along the length (warp) of the cloth strips.  Asante identify certain patterns with names derived from historical events, family lineage, and proverbs."

The following kente has a Mokowa pattern.  "Mokowa translates to 'little pepper' and refers to the line multicolored sections of weaving interspersed within the cloth's green background.  Although this is not an elite kente pattern, it would have been a prestigious garment because is is made entirely of silk.

More of the exhibit:

DFW locals dress in kentes

 After checking out a few more spots in the museum, we decide to find a local coffee shop that has just opened.  It takes a bit of walking (as we got lost) but overall, it's in a lovely setting and we are able to just sit and visit.  Thank you, Bob, for asking me out today.  I really needed it.