Teshie, Ghana (a suburb of Accra in West Africa); Kane Kwei Cap. Works (carvers: Tehteh and Samuel)
Culture or time period:
Ga People
Collector:
Alvin Bennett Rutner and Mrs. Alvin Rutner [use Phyllis Ross Rutner]
Collection date:
2/2/2000
Materials:
Enamel (fused coating), Paint (coating), and Wood (plant material) (constructed of local dense wood; after construction and carving the surface is filled with a primer and then painted with enamel paint.)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Coffins
Function:
5.3 Objects relating to the Secular and Quasi-religious Rites, Pageants, and Drama
Production date:
2000
Accession date:
September 1, 2000
Context of use:
For burial; appeals to the traditional custom of burying personal possessions along with the deceased to accompany him/her into the next world (1); according to Ga beliefs, a person’s spirit cannot rejoin its celestial family or become an ancestor capable of reincarnation unless it has under gone the appropriate burial rites (2); the Chicken Coffin is a symbol of the deceased’s vocation, and is his/her vehicle to heaven; the Chicken Coffin is one of the most popular models for women with children (3); Phyllis Ross Rutner specially commissioned the Chicken Coffin, intending to give it to a local San Francisco Bay Area museum, and gave it to the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology because she attended UC Berkeley. During the long voyage from Ghana, the Chicken/Rooster’s comb/feather was broken off; this has been repaired with dowels, wood putty, glue, and then painted.
; Colors: red, black, yellow, and cream; body is red with cream feathers, black and red tail, cream beak, yellow and black eyes, red head, and red comb/feather on top of head; Height: 66 inches, Length: 104 inches, Width/breadth: 36 inches; Crated: 419 lbs; Uncrated: approx. 375-400 lbs. Acc. File contains useful selections from “Going into Darkness” (Thames and Hudson 1995) by Thierry Secretan, and a few more short articles.