Chief Sakite of Manya Krobo with entourage
Caption:
Code: 0002 4037
Category: Images of the colonial Gold Coast
Chief Sakite of Manya Krobo with entourage
Formal group portrait of paramount chief Sakite of Manya Krobo in what is today the Eastern Region of Ghana. He reigned from 1867 up to his death on 29 January 1892.
The photo shows a combination of traditional and colonial symbolic elements. On the one hand we see the umbrella and the staffs of office held by several persons, on the other the chain and medal, and the sword, which were received by the chief from the British colonial government. The necklace, badge and sword were presented to him by the British Governor for his merits in the 1873-74 Asante-war. The sword had an inscription stating "Presented to King Sakitey by Command of Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies for his Faithful Services to the Queen during the Ashanti War of 1873". The badge states "Sakitey, Glover's Force 1873-4" and the necklace "For Services 1873-4". All these items still belong to the stool regalia of the Manya Krobo paramountcy.
Note also the long double-headed smoking pipe. The person standing on the right, with white turban and small sword on his chest, is a member of the colonial Hausa police force.
The Basel Mission archives hold the same picture (no. D-30.06.039), with the caption "Koenig Saquite und sein Hof in Odumase" (King Sakite of Odumase and his court). There is also a portrait of King Sakite most probably taken on the same occasion (no. D-30.06.039).
There is an article on the role of Sakite in the Asante war in the Gold Coast Review of 1929, pp.105-117. Nii Quarcoopome (Ghanaian art historian working at Detroit DIA) has dealt with this picture in his PhD thesis on Dangme and Ewe art. With thanks to Dr. Veit Arlt of the Zentrum fuer Afrikastudien Basel who identified the picture.