Images(2)

Ring: Bird with cannons on wings

Label TextGold rings demonstrate how the Asante instill meaning in seemingly mundane objects. Royal regalia often combine rings with bracelets, necklaces, sandals, hats, cloths, staffs, swords, stools, and umbrellas. Each item is selected for display by an Asante who seeks the proper words to enhance a given situation. What the average museum visitor sees are images like gold peanuts, birds, grubs or porcupines, and knots. But viewers attuned to the proverbs behind the rings begin to see the wisdom in the ordinary. This ring featuring a bird holding a keg of gunpowder in its beak, and balancing a cannon on each wing, represents a common proverb, "The courageous bird Adwetakyi sits on cannons." An interpretation of this proverb is, a brave man faces all odds; he is always ready to face the enemy.

Object number81.17.429

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Exhibition HistorySeattle, 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., p. 80, reproduced pl. 40. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Lessons from the Institute of Empathy, Mar. 31, 2018 - ongoing. Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. "Art of Africa." In Selected Works, pp. 35-52. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 42, reproduced.

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions1 3/4 x1 3/4 in. (4.5 x 4.5 cm)

MediumGold wash and silver