Staff: Seated Male Figure
Not on view
In order to forge staffs of office, Mande blacksmiths channeled esoteric expertise and the creative force of nyama. That process invested such signs of authority with the powers of invincibility and might, which were also directed toward the production of weaponry. The regal leader depicted at the summit of this staff holds an iron-pointed spear, an insignia of power and military superiority dating back to ancient Ghana.
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