Ashanti Linguist's Staff Depicting Dog with Bone, Based

There’s a proverb about a dog and a bone. The Ashanti would know it. The linguist, certainly, would.

Ghana, 20th century. This linguist’s staff stands five feet tall. Among the Ashanti, the man who spoke on a chief’s behalf carried a staff topped with a carved finial, often alluding to a proverb. Here a dog stands alert, a bone in its open mouth, tail curled high over its back, ears pricked. It is painted brown with black patches, the bone touched with red, on a yellow platform with dark diagonal stripes. All of it softly worn with age.

Hold your tongue. The dog will not.