Ashanti Linguist's Staff Depicting a Tiger with Foot Atop Porcupine

The tiger has one foot on a porcupine. Think about that for a moment.

Among the Ashanti, the okyeame, the royal spokesman, carried staffs whose finials illustrate proverbs, and the porcupine is a well-known emblem of the Ashanti state. This staff, carved in wood in Ghana in the 20th century, is crowned by a tiger painted brick red with bold black stripes, jaws open to show teeth. The dark, spiky porcupine sits beneath its paw. A golden platform and a fluted shaft below.

Fine crazing across the paint speaks to age. Sixty-one inches in all.

Say nothing. Lean it in a corner. Let guests work it out.