Pair of Figures from a Shrine Group

Kwaku Benpoh

First half 20th century

Wood, metal, ribbon

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Two carved wooden figures stand side-by-side, one with arms around the other. A circular metal pendant hangs from a ribbon around the neck of the figure on the right. In the late 17th century the numerous small kingdoms of the Akan peoples in the area of Ghana in West Africa were melded into a powerful empire by the chiefs of the Asante, one of the largest and most powerful of the Akan group. They developed a wide-ranging trading empire whose economy was based on the use of gold dust as the common means of exchange. Asante kings ruled over the area known as the Gold Coast (Ghana) until the 20th century and they still hold considerable prestige and power today. Like all royal systems, the Asante relied on a variety of prestigious objects to identify and honor their kings and others of high social