Staff with a Seated Male Figure in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Title: Staff: Seated Male Figure

Date: 16th–17th century

Geography: Mali

Culture: Dogon or Bozo peoples

Medium: Copper alloy, iron

Dimensions: H. 30 1/2 × W. 4 1/4 × D. 4 in. (77.5 × 10.8 × 10.2 cm)

Classification: Metal-Sculpture

Credit Line: Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 1975

Accession Number: 1975.306

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.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/310001