Details
Contributor Bowdich, T. Edward (Thomas Edward), 1791-1824 artist.
Title Odumata's sleeping room ; Inner square of Apookoos house [graphic] / Drawn by T.E. Bowdich Esq.
Publisher London: Published by John Murray, Abermarle Street
Publisher ENGLAND. London. 1819
Date Dec. 2, 1818
Physical Description 1 print: hand-colored aquatint; overall 28 x 21 cm. (10.75 x 8 in); each image 11 x 16 cm (4.25 x 6 in).
Description Plates are included in Chapter VI, "Architecture, Arts, and Manufactures." Top plate shows the sleeping room of Odumata, an old Ashanti aristocrat. Bowdich described the room as being "one side of an oblong area in a very retired angle of his house, about 25 feet by 8." As he continued,"The cloth suspended to the left of the door on the top of the steps, hides the bloody stools which are in the recess. The small gallery in front of the upper room is only wide enough for one person to walk in. The recess and small room below accommodate confidential slaves. The bed room was very small, about 8 feet square, but being hung round with a variety of gold and silver ornaments, had a very rich appearance. The bed is generally about 5 feet high, and composed entirely of large silk-cotton pillows piled one above another. The King of Gaman, we were assured, had steps of solid gold to ascend to his bed. A man wearing a crier's cap, is playing the sanko." (p. 307) As the title suggests, the bottom plate shows the inner square of Apokoo's house. (Apokoo was the keeper of the Ashanti royal treasury.) Describing the image, Bowdich wrote, "No. 6, is a perspective view of the entrance area to Apokoo's house; the fourth side is an open fronted building like those on the right and left for attendants to wait in, and for the hearing of palavers. The opposite closed side is a bed room. The figure is playing the bentwa." (p. 307)
Is part of Bowdich, T.E., 1791-1824. Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee. London: J. Murray, Albemarle-Street: printed by W. Bulmer and Co., Cleveland-Row, St. James's, 1819.
Notes Two plates in T. Edward Bowdich's Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee: with a statistical account of that kingdom, and geographical notices of other parts of the interior of Africa (London: J. Murray, Albemarle-Street: printed by W. Pulmer and Co., Cleveland-Row, St. James's, 1819), p. 306.
Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Subject Ashanti (African people) -- Structures.
Dwellings -- Ashanti.
Ashanti (African people) -- Pictorial works -- 19th century.
Genre Aquatints -- Hand-colored -- 1810-1820.
Book illustrations -- 1810-1820.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Books & Other Texts | Rare | *U Afri Bowd 12983.Q p 306
Accession number 12983.Q