Ashanti Linguist's Staff Depicting Chief Seated Atop Elephant, Based

The chief seldom speaks for himself. A spokesman carries the words, and a staff announces that he does.

This linguist’s staff was carved by Ashanti artists in Ghana in the 20th century, and rises about five and a half feet. Among the Ashanti, such staffs were carried by the chief’s spokesman as emblems of office. At the top, a man sits upright on a curved stool with notched supports, hands on his knees. The stool rests on a rectangular platform over the broad back of an elephant. Flaking red-orange and gray-white paint over dark wood gives the carving a weathered depth.

A chief on an elephant. The message is not subtle. Neither is the staff.