A Baule Pendant, Mask/Portrait Lot n° 20

Jewelry pendant, mask/portrait Baule, Côte d'Ivoire Mit Sockel / with base Gold alloy (ca. 9 kt) with a surface in high gold fineness. H 10,5 cm. Provenance: Gallery Walu, Zurich, before 1988. Published: Lüthi, Werner & David, Jean (2009). Exhibition catalog: Helvetic Gold Museum Burgdorf. Gold in the art of West Africa. Zurich: Galerie Walu, p. 59. Exhibited: Helvetic Gold Museum, Burgdorf (2009). Expertise of the Swiss Precious Metals Control (gold content approx. 0.370 with a surface in high gold fineness. The valuable precious metal of the former "Gold Coast" of Africa was for centuries the interest and desire of African and European merchants. Through trade, powerful states rose whose wealth and skill in gold processing became a legend. Thus, at the royal courts of the Akan, masterful pieces of jewelry were created using highly developed manufacturing technologies, but above all in the lost wax casting process ("lost mold" / "cire perdue"). Even today, the gold jewelry serves as a sign of rank and affiliation at self-portraying festivities of the royal families. The strong expressiveness of these unique pieces reflects the rich metaphors of the Akan and is based on the tradition of the highly esteemed art of oratory. The depicted motifs, here a portrait crowned by horns, always refer to persons, animals or objects that allegorically stand for praiseworthy qualities and aphorisms. Further reading: Ross, Doran and Eisner, Georg (2008). The Gold of the Akan. Museum Liaunig. Neuhaus: Museumsverwaltung GmbH. CHF 3 000 / 6 000 EUR 3 000 / 6 000