Asante Gilt Linguist Staff Finial, Ghana

Collected in situ by Charles D. Miller III in the 1970s

Among the Asante, the art of speech and mastery of proverbs were considered hallmarks of the human intellect. Court linguists, akyeame (sing. okyeame), who formally recited proverbs for every occasion, were the king’s closest counselors and also acted as diplomats, ambassadors and legal experts. As one Akan proverb explains: “there are no bad kings, only bad linguists (akyeame).” Staffs with figurative finials were the okyeame's badge of office. The iconography of a mighty bird with cannons on its wings and a keg of gunpowder relates to the proverb "the bird who always travels with cannons and gunpowder", meaning the ideal chief is always prepared for war. See Ross (1982: 56-58 and 64) for further discussion.