The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Disk Pendant (akrafokɔnmu)

1800s

Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Asante Empire/ Kingdom, member of the goldsmiths’ guild

Gold
Diameter: 11 cm (4 5/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1952.84
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Gold miners from the Akan region once mined gold to make local objects like this and to supply gold for trade across trans-Saharan routes and into places as far away as Europe.

Description

Gold discs dangling on the chests of Akan state officials and elites showed their rank and duties. Worn by these akrafo (“soul people”) since the 1800s, they are often linked to kradware, officials who represent and purify (“wash”) the king’s soul. To make them, goldsmiths cast or flattened gold. Muslim North African gold coins likely inspired their form and material, while concentric water rings influenced their composition. This small disc is typical of pre-colonial examples. Gold ornament making ceased until 1924; court officials now wear large discs.
  • ca. 1900
    Sir Cecil Hamilton Armitage, Ghana
    ?–1952
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1952–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ratton, Charles. « Les bijoux en forme de disque etc. » Special Issue, Présence Africaine : L'Art Nègre 10-11. Paris : Aux Editions du Seuil (1951) Ill. opp. p. 129, no. 53; text p. 146.
    Jopling, Carol F., ed. Art and Aesthetics in Primitive Societies. NY: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1971: 66.
    Simms, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006: 32.
    Brooklyn Museum. Masterpieces of African Art. Exhibition Dates: October 21, 1954-January 2, 1955. [Brooklyn]: Brooklyn Museum, 1954. Mentioned: p. 39
    William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, and Ralph T. Coe. The Imagination of Primitive Man: A Survey of the Arts of the Non-Literate Peoples of the World. Kansas City, Mo: The Museum, 1962. Mentioned: p. 25, cat. no. 34
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art"
    The Imagination of Primitive Man. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (organizer) (January 18-February 25, 1962).
    Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (1/18/1962 - 2/25/1962): "The Imagination of Primitive Man"
    The Brooklyn Museum (10/18/1954 - 1/2/1955): "Masterpieces of African Art"
  • {{cite web|title=Disk Pendant (akrafokɔnmu)|url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.84