African Art and Architecture

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Art and Prestige

Many African art objects serve to indicate the status of an individual, family, or other group. Objects such as weapons, staffs, and crowns act as symbols of rank, wealth, or position in the community.

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Weapons

Today, as in the past, African men may wear swords, knives, spears, and other weapons for display to indicate their status. Many societies restrict the use of ceremonial weapons to specific individuals or groups. Some traditions practiced today are hundreds of years old. Swords served as emblems of authority as far back as the 15th century in the Kingdom of Benin, which had its capital in what is now Nigeria. Only the king of Benin wore the ceremonial ada, an ancient, long-bladed sword that symbolized his right to take human life. Chiefs carried other types of swords. Brass plaques from the 16th and 17th centuries depict this tradition.

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Regalia

During investiture ceremonies, kings and chiefs receive courtly regalia—notably crowns or other special headgear—that proclaim their power and authority. Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, the tradition of the beaded crown, or ade, dates from the legendary first ancestor or ruler of the Yoruba, Oduduwa, who is said to have placed an ade on the head of each of his 16 sons. The ade consists of a beaded veil hanging from a cone-shaped hat that is covered with interlaced patterns of beads. Affixed to the cone are beaded relief sculptures of faces and birds with symbolic meaning in Yoruba culture. The beaded veil protects ordinary people from looking directly at so powerful a being. In turn, the king must never look inside the crown because that is where his power resides. Some say that looking inside could blind or kill him, while others assert that peering inside confirms a loss of power and that the king who has done so should commit suicide or face execution.

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Objects to Denote Importance

In addition to kings and chiefs, other Africans of importance in society may announce their position through items such as belts, emblems, and especially staffs. In the kingdom of the Ashanti (18th and 19th centuries, in what is now Ghana), court officials who served as spokespersons and advisers to the king were called linguists and carried linguist staffs. The chief linguist carried a staff with a decorated knob covered in gold. The knob typically illustrated proverbs connected to the position of chief. A knob showing two men seated on stools in front of a table, for example, indicates that “food belongs to the rightful owner and not to one who is hungry.” This proverb means that the position of chief must pass to the rightful heir, not to someone who thirsts for power.

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III

Materials, Forms, and Styles

An art object’s appearance depends upon its materials, its form, and the stylistic practices at work in the artist’s culture and time. Each of these aspects of the object may convey symbolic meaning, reflect ideals of beauty, or disclose information about the society.

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