Asante Atuotumfoɔ (Gun bearers/ Bodyguards) bandolier (ntoa) and regalia
Asante court regalia: Asante Atuotumfoɔ (Gun bearers/ Bodyguards) bandolier (ntoa). Leather, textile, steel, wood, hammered gold foil and staples. Atuotumfoɔ (gun bearers) are Asante court officials most closely translated as “bodyguards, executioners, and constabulary”. (D.Ross). EX Galerie Walu (1990)
The bandolier displayed here with the short sword of the Atuotumfoɔ (Gun Bearer).
An Asante Gunbearer’s (adumfoɔ and atumtufoɔ) regalia ornament. This example is cast in copper alloy, 7.6cm H and would have been attached to a bandolier “ntoa” or other gunbearer’s regalia item. The stylized form represents the red seashells that once adorned some state swords and are still found on an occasional sepɔ (executioner’s knife). These shells were apparently traded from the Canary Islands at a very early date, at least before 1474, when the Portuguese noted their presence on the coast (Blake 1942, 206). They were considered very valuable and according to Garrard “were worth their weight in gold” (Ross). Cast examples are mainly seen in gold and there are examples which are closely modeled after the cockle shell and many stylized variations which sometimes look like beetle forms. The wearing of real and cast gold shells originated from a widespread belief among Akan communities that they protected people from lightning strikes, from bullets and other projectiles. (B.M.)
