Ashanti Linguist's Staff Depicting Two Figures

Tall man whispers to a stacked, ribbed figure about something serious.

This linguist’s staff depicting two figures is Ashanti, from Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is carved & painted wood. Each staff finial was made as a visual form of one or more Ashanti proverbs, and the staffs were carved from wood, mostly painted, with some accented in gold leaf. Two figures on a square base with a cross-hatched edge. One stands slim with an arm laid across the other, who is built from layered horizontal bands and rests chin on hand. Gilded surfaces glow pale gold. It is 5 inches wide, 3.5 deep and 64.75 high.

Gossip has never looked so architecturally ambitious.