id:			115164
accession number:	1935.311
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1935.311
updated:		2022-09-10 09:35:47.830000

Knife Handle Cover, 1800s. Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Asante Empire/Kingdom, Kumasi or probably Kumasi, member of the goldsmiths' guild. Gold; overall: 4.3 cm (1 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1935.311

title:				Knife Handle Cover
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1800s
creation date earliest:		1886
creation date latest:		1896
current location:		108C Akan & Yoruba
creditline:			Dudley P. Allen Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Asante Empire/Kingdom, Kumasi or probably Kumasi, member of the goldsmiths' guild
technique:	Gold
department:	African Art
collection:	African Art
type:		Arms and Armor
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 4.3 cm (1 11/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art
	opening date:   2000-02-01T00:00:00
	<i>Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art</i>. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (February 1-September 3, 2000).

	title:		The Power of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana
	opening date:   2018-04-15T04:00:00
	<i>The Power of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana</i>. The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (organizer) (April 15-August 12, 2018).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* NY, Museum of Modern Art, 1935: "African Negro Art," cat. no. 162, (also to CMA 9/27 - 10/27, 1935).<br>NY: The Brooklyn Museum.  Masterpieces of African Art, October 18, 1954-January 2, 1955, cat. no. 32.<br>NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art" 2/1/00 - 9/3/00, exh. cat. no. 18, p. 68.

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PROVENANCE

	Sir Cecil Hamilton Armitage
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
			
			* Original object card (CMA Curatorial File)
			
			
	citations: 	


	(Charles Ratton Gallery, Paris, France via Pierre Matisse, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?–1935
	footnotes: 	
			
			* Original object card (CMA Curatorial File)
			
			
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1935–
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 


digital description: 


wall description: 
Gold sheaths covered the cast iron blade of a king’s ceremonial knife (<em>sikay</em>), wrapping them with symbolism. In Akan states like the Asante Kingdom, gold embodies life force (<em>kra</em>) and is the sun’s earthly counterpart. Only goldsmiths’ guild members could make gold ornaments for the royals and their entourage, or for the royal treasury. Here, the goldsmith used a tool to push the raised floral, leaf, and geometric designs from the back of a soft sheet of gold (repoussé technique). Small dots outlining some motifs were punched into the metal. Similarly decorated gold sheets and solid ornaments capped a knife’s handle.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Petridis, Constantijn. <em>South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.
	page number: 	Reproduced: cat. 19, p.68 - 69
	url:		

	Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), and James Johnson Sweeney. <em>African Negro Art</em>. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1935.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 39, no. 162.
	url:		

	Webb, Virginia-Lee, and Walker Evans. <em>Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art, 1935.</em> New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 22; reproduced: p. 23, fig. 13, p. 68, no. 18.
	url:		

	Petridis, Constantine. "A World of Great Art for Everyone." In <em>Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display.</em> Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke, 104-121. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 112
	url:		

	Brooklyn Museum. <em>Masterpieces of African Art. Exhibition Dates: October 21, 1954-January 2, 1955.</em> [Brooklyn]: Brooklyn Museum, 1954.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 39
	url:		

	Robbins, Warren M., and Nancy Ingram Nooter.<em> African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989</em>. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.
	page number: 	Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 202-203, fig. 514
	url:		

	Walker, Roslyn A., Martha J. Ehrlich, Christraud M. Geary, M. D. McLeod, and Doran H. Ross.<em> The Power of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana.</em> Yale University Press, New Haven and London.Dallas : Dallas Museum of Art, 2018.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 29; reproduced: p. 95, cat. 42
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1935.311/1935.311_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1935.311/1935.311_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1935.311/1935.311_full.tif