Asante shrine house, open-work screen wall, near Besease, Ghana
Object Details
- Local Numbers
- EENG-V-14, 28.
- General
- Title source: Index card based on photographer's notes.
- Local Note
- Typed index card reads, "T 2 Ash. Ashanti. Ghana, Adarkwa Jachi. Shrine house, open work screen. 7/1970. EE. neg.no. V-14, 28." The card was written in 1977-79 by Archives staff using source provided by photographer.
- Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Collection Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Place
- Africa
- Ghana
- Topic
- Religious buildings
- Traditional architecture
- Works of art in situ
- Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Culture
- Asante (African people)
- See more items in
- Eliot Elisofon Field collection
- Eliot Elisofon Field collection / Ghana
- Extent
- 1 Negatives (photographic) (b&w, 35mm.)
- Date
- 1970
- Archival Repository
- Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
- Identifier
- EEPA.1973-001, Item EEPA EENG 05873
- Type
- Archival materials
- Negatives (photographic)
- Black-and-white negatives
- Negatives
- Collection Citation
- Eliot Elisofon Field Collection, EEPA 1973-001, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
- Collection Rights
- Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
- Genre/Form
- Black-and-white negatives
- Negatives
- Scope and Contents
- "Similar to a typical traditional Asante courtyard house, a shrine house or 'Obosomfie' is made up of 4 buildings enclosing a central courtyard or 'gyase'. Three of the buildings are open to the courtyard with raised floors. One of these is reserved for the drummers; another room is used by the singers; the third open room is used as a cooking area where ceremonial meals were regularly prepared to be partaken of by the gods. The fourth building, housing the shrine, is closed by decorated walls or intricate open-work screen walls. The entry to this room is usually strictly restricted to the priest and his attendants." [Asante Traditional Buildings. World Heritage. A Ghana Museums and Monuments Publication]. The photograph depicts open building reseved for the drummers. The last conservation work was carried out in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon traveled to Africa from March 17, 1970 to July 17, 1970.
- Collection Restrictions
- Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
- Record ID
- ebl-1536870822481-1536871014421-4
- Metadata Usage
- CC0
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