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War Shirt (batakari)

Photo: Paul Macapia

War Shirt (batakari)

20th century

Ghanaian

Asante

The amulets found on this Asante war shirt announce that a spiritual force has been harnessed and is at work. A short prayer, a verse from the Koran, or magic square is commonly written on paper, folded, and tucked inside the amulets. Blacksmiths and Muslim teachers (mallam) choose the inscription to be sealed in secrecy. The notion of writing as an act of recording words for others to consult openly is thereby reversed. Encased in leather, fur, or fiber, the amulets may also enclose the words and prayers uttered by the mallam. Asante chiefs and senior officials did not wear these shirts to hunt; instead, they wore them into battle as protection or during installations of leaders to announce that they were prepared for warfare.
Cotton cloth, leather, string, and deposits
35 1/16 x 42 5/16 in. (89 x 107.4 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.454.1
Photo: Paul Macapia
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, African Panoplies: Art for Rulers, Traders, Hunters, and Priests, Apr. 21 - Aug. 14, 1988.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., pp. 72-73, reproduced pl. 38 and back cover.
Published ReferencesEicher, Joanne B., et al. The Visible Self: Global Perspectives on Dress, Culture, and Society, 4th edition. New York: Bloomsbury, 2015; p. 17, reproduced fig. 1.10.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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