Context (Found together / assemblage)
The private view notice for the exhibition Paa Joe: Taking it with you on Wednesday 24 November 2010, noted:
'Jack Bell Gallery is pleased to announce a solo selling exhibition of sculpted coffins by the Ghanaian artist Paa Joe. The four works in the show are all iconic symbols of local life. The golden African eagle, fish, Air Ghana jet, and Cocoa pod are testament to the vibrancy of West African culture and the ability and imagination of the local artists. These works blur the line between art and craft. Reflecting the ambition or the trade of the person for whom they were made they are not dead things but are instead a manifestation of and indeed an affirmation of life. The works are wholly African and are a contemporary embodiment of traditional tribal burial rituals and art practice. They link back to pre-colonial West African sculpture but also recall the pomp and extravagance of ancient Egyptian royal tombs and perhaps – in contemporary Western art practice they recall Jeff Koons. They too are kitsch, Paa Joe, like Koons, plays with scale and with a work like the Jet, with material and commercial ostentation. Paa Joe was born in the Akwapim hills north-east of Accra in 1945. The foremost sculpted coffin maker of his generation Paa Joe apprenticed with Kane Kwei – who is credited with beginning the 20th century tradition of figurative coffins. Paa Joe's work is held in museum collections around the world including the British Museum in London. Two of the works from this exhibition pre-sold to museums
Event Date 24/11/2010
Author: rachel hand

Context (Field collection)
Offered as an anonymous donation and acquired in July 2012.
Event Date 7/2012
Author: Lucie Carreau

Context (Production / use)
The creation of figurative or 'fantasy' coffins known by the Ga people as Abebuu adekai (boxes with proverbs), is generally credited to Seth Kane Kwei (1922-1992), and his brother Ajetey, both carpenters in Teshie, Accra in Ghana. They made a coffin in the form of an airplane to bury their grandmother (British Museum n.d. [record for Af2000,06.4.a-b]) and began making these coffins in the early 1950s. By the 1960s their use in Ga burial practices had become widespread.
Paa Joe (b. 1945 in Akwapim) is Kane Kwei's nephew and trained in his workshop between 1960 and 1970. Paa Joe states that Kane Kwei was the second generation producing these coffins. He went on to open his own studio in 1977 in Nungua as the third generation of coffin producers.
"I was given to my uncle who was the second generation of producing fantasy coffin Ghana. He is named Kane Kwei. I trained at Teshie a coastal area of Accra Ghana from 1960-1970. I then opened my own coffin studio as the third generation from 1977. I don't only produce coffins for the dead but also for Museums and Galleries all over the world; for exhibitions."
Paa Joe and Ghanaian 'fantasy' coffin tradition- details supplied by the Jack Bell gallery, May 2012

(Independent 20th January 2012: http://www.independent.co.ug/society/society/5127-paa-joe-the-ghanan-coffin-maker)

Event Date 17/10/2013
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Fantasy coffin in the shape of a lion.
Event Date 17/10/2013
Author: maa

Context (References)
An image of Paa Joe with a very similar lion coffin was featured in an article, Jansen, Charlotte 2016. 'How Ghana's top fantasy coffin artist has put the fun in funeral' in the The Guardian, 24 November 2016

Accessed 04/10/2022
Event Date 24/11/2016
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
Coffin is lined with foam, secured with metal nails and decorated with bright pink gathered synthetic fabric, bordered with deep red diamond shaped edging, all of which is nailed to the inside of the rim. A length of white kente fabric with blue, green and brown, covers the base and is also secured with nails. Fabric has one long selvedge and the other sides are unhemmed. Fabric is marked and may have been reused. The lid is lined with foam covered kente fabric is secured with a yellow and black synthetic cord at the tail end.
The filler between the joins in the wooden section are cracking and visible.
Event Date 4/10/2022
Author: rachel hand

Context (Found together / assemblage)
The lion was one of five coffins by Paa Joe bought to the UK by Jack Bell in August 2010. The Jack Bell Gallery, London, later held a solo selling exhibition of sculpted coffins 'Paa Joe: Taking it with you', 25 November 2010- 15 January 2011.
While the lion coffin was not exhibited, a smaller maquette or model, with a downwardly pointing tail was on display.

Event Date 4/10/2022
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
Paa Joe and his son Jacob were artists in residence and built a coffin in the shape of a lion at the National Trust site, Clumber Park, 1 May - June 1st 2013. An exhibition of photographs, masks, archive materials and The Lion itself was later dislayed in the Broadway Gallery in Heathcoat Street, Nottingham from 22 until 29 August 2016.
Event Date 5/10/2022
Author: rachel hand

Context (References)
cf another lion carved by Paa Joe in 1991 for Aflache Aypko (1910-1991)in the village of Oyarifa, in Secretan, Tjierry 1995. Going into Darkness: Fantastic Coffins from Africa (London: Thames and Hudson), pp. 110-21
Event Date 5/10/2022
Author: rachel hand

Conservation (Assessment Only)
CON.2022.5403 | Assessment Only
Event Date 27/7/2022
Author: Ayesha Fuentes

Description (Physical description)
Fantasy coffin in the shape of a lion. Standing on four carved legs with clawed paws, the front and back pairs each connected by a wooden plinth. Face painted in stylised detail; mouth slightly open. Upright tail. The lid is hinged on one side and opens out of the back of the lion.
Event Date 8/7/2022
Author: Lily Stancliffe