Ohene Kra Konmunde: The Royal Soul Pendant of the Asante Court

Ohene Kra Konmunde draws on one of the most beautiful objects of Asante court art: the gold disc worn by the king's "soul washers". The name combines ohene, "king", and kra, "soul" or "life force", and the design is best understood through the gold discs that museums call akrafokonmu, soul washers' badges.

Gold and the king's soul

In Akan thought, gold is the earthly counterpart of the sun and the visible form of kra, life's vital force. The Metropolitan Museum of Art explains that cast gold discs called akrafokonmu were worn by important members of the Asante court, including royal attendants called akrafo, "soul washers". They were young men and women born on the same day of the week as the king, who ritually purified and replenished his vital powers and, through him, those of the nation.

The discs themselves

The Met's example, made in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, shows a central rosette surrounded by a border of vegetal motifs, and the museum reads the concentric design as an image of the sun's radiating rays. A disc in the Victoria and Albert Museum, made before 1874, has two loops so that it could be worn at the neck, and its quartered design has been identified as nkwantaanan, "four paths", the crossroads.

A royal emblem

Ohene Kra Konmunde therefore refers not to a simple charm but to a badge of office at the heart of Asante kingship, where the well-being of the king's soul was bound up with the well-being of the state.

Ohene Kra Konmunde in jewellery

An Ohene Kra Konmunde design honours the goldwork of the Asante court and the idea it expressed: that gold, the sun and life itself were one.

You can see the AURYN design, or read our guide to Adinkra symbols.