Soul Washer's disc (akrafokonmu)

20th century

Such discs protect the wearer from danger. The radiating pattern refers to the sun, which is the source of each person's kra-the spiritual essence given to a child at birth. They are worn by rulers, queen mothers and by individuals known as akrafo, or soul washers, who conduct ceremonies to purify leaders' souls.

Gold wash and silver core

Diameter: 3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.1685

Provenance: [Charles Ratton, Paris, France]; sold to Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1972; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Photo: Paul Macapia

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., pp. 152-3, reproduced pl. 188 (as "soul" disk).

Los Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, The Arts Of Ghana, Oct. 11 - Dec. 11, 1977 (Minneapolis, Minnesota, Walker Art Center, Feb. 11 - Mar. 26, 1978; Dallas, Texas, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, May 2 - July 2, 1978). Text by Herbert M. Cole and Doran H. Ross. No cat. no., p. 23, reproduced fig. 32.

Seattle, 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. 108-9, reproduced pl. 59.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Lessons from the Institute of Empathy, Mar. 31, 2018 - ongoing.

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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