Gan dignitary's baton

Gan dignitary's bronze staff (Poni province, Burkina Faso)

In Africa (and in the rest of the universe) chiefs, nobles, shamans and other important people usually equip themselves with objects that indicate power that, long before, had been designed for another purpose. Blunt ceremonial weapons, extravagant hats, a simple fly-swatter or, as among the Ashanti, a stool fallen from the sky are part of that collection of attributes with which the stranger can quickly know who is boss.
But among all the emblems and royalties that have existed in the world, the batons stand out, gadgets designed to help the elderly or the sick who, in this case, can end up in the hands of young and healthy individuals. Some see the staff as the object with which the chief can punish the erring subject; others consider it a phallic symbol of fertility. In any case, the staff can accumulate so much strength and power in itself that, as happens with the Dahomean recades, it ends up being venerated when the sovereign is away.
Relatively common in other ethnic groups of the Volta River basin, among the Gan people of southern Burkina Faso the staff of power can acquire very refined dyes, and to achieve this they make use of their smelting skills.
The bronze staff that we present has been cast following the lost wax technique, thanks to which the artisan has achieved very fine details that are representative of the Gan spiritual universe. The entire staff is presented as the river serpent, whose head culminates the handle; On the body of the ophidian there is a human figure (a woman sitting on the bank) and several totem animals of the river: a gecko, a lizard, two chameleons and a two-headed snake that coils around the tail of the great voltaic snake.

Height: 82.0 cm; Handle width: 13.0 cm; Weight: 1.10 Kg