ASANTE, GHANA

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Gold mining and manufacture formed the foundation of Ghana’s economy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a time of territorial expansion and thriving commerce for the kingdom. Accordingly, the nation’s artisans excelled in fine goldsmithing and ornamentation, and specialists provided for the significant demands of the political elite. With such an abundance of raw material, royal workshops were free to produce without constraint, pursuing a panoply of sculptural ideas.

Ornaments featuring animal images were a favored theme of the Asante court. They communicated not just wealth and power, but also deeper allusions to Asante proverbs that conveyed the virtues a successful ruler would be expected to have.

This fine ring, with its charming image of a plump frog, carried its own set of associations. Frogs’ capacity to thrive both on land and in water, as well as their transformation from tadpole to adult, symbolized adaptability and an important capacity for change. Their prodigious rate of reproduction was a signifier of abundance and fertility, and they were also used to illustrate the power of careful speech.

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