Ashanti Linguist's Staff Depicting a Parrot with Spiked Fruit

Grey-green bird perches on a spiky seed head and looks unconvinced.

This linguist’s staff depicting a parrot with spiked fruit is Ashanti, from Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is carved & painted wood. The Ashanti considered gold an embodiment of sunlight and life's vital force, and the kingdom was once known as the Kingdom of Gold, though most staffs are painted as gold disappeared. Long-tailed bird with a heavy beak tipped in red-brown and a darkly ringed eye, feathers picked out in fine pale lines. It grips a branch ending in a spiny, cone-like pod, all set on a ribbed golden cup. It is 10 inches wide, 4.5 deep and 67 high.

Plumage carved with more patience than most of us own.