Asafo Company Flag (Frankaa)
Arts of Africa
CULTURE
Fante
MEDIUM
Textile with appliqué and embroidery
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS
- Place made: Central Region, Ghana
- Place collected: La, Greater Accra Region, Ghana
DATES
early to mid–20th century
DIMENSIONS
54 x 37 1/2 in. (137.2 x 95.3 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Arts of Africa
ACCESSION NUMBER
2009.39.2
CREDIT LINE
Designated Purchase Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
The object is a double sided, textile (cotton?) Asafo flag. The flag is composed of a patchwork of different colored (cotton?) fabrics sewn together with variously colored (cotton?) thread. Appliqué and embroidery are used as design elements on both sides of the flag. All embroidery appears to be done in a chain stitch.
The hoist of the flag is made of a band of two different beige fabrics that have been folded over and sewn along the vertical edge to allow room for a pole. The lower section (~8 ¼'') of the hoist is a closed weave fabric while the upper section is an open weave fabric. An exterior border of fringe, consisting of two layers of cut beige fabric, is found on both the top and bottom lengths and the fly end of the flag. Immediately within the fringe is a single band of alternating fabric patches with the following pattern: red square, purple triangle, red triangle, purple square, red triangle, purple triangle.
The canton (upper left quadrant) is a Union Jack made with a patchwork of red, off-white, and blue fabric pieces.
The field consists primarily of a light teal fabric background with appliqué design elements. The central image depicts an ungulate-type creature stamping on a snake that is eating a horse-like animal. The ungulate-type animal is a blue fabric appliqué. Yellow embroidery is used to accent the ears/horns(?); red delineates the lips and iris of the eye; beige depicts the toes and outline of the eye; and black is used for the pupil. The snake appliqué design is made with a yellow and black, scale pattern fabric. Beige embroidery is used to depict the mouth and exterior of the eye; gray and black define the iris and pupil respectively. The horse-like animal is red appliqué. Grey embroidery outlines the ears and describes the iris and inner mouth; pink delineates the outline of the eye; black the pupil and orange the exterior of the mouth.
Below the Union Jack is a rodent-type creature made of purple appliqué. Red embroidery is used for the mouth; yellow for the toes and iris; and beige and black delineate the outline and pupil of the eye respectively. A rectangular, blue, appliqué element with "No 4 COMP" embroidered in off-white is depicted below this creature.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Fante. Asafo Company Flag (Frankaa), early to mid–20th century. Textile with appliqué and embroidery, 54 x 37 1/2 in. (137.2 x 95.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 2009.39.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2009.39.2_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 2009.39.2_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
