Standing female figure ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Dan · ID: 3035078

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Description

brass, with patina, elaborate coiffure and ornamental scarifications, adorned with holding a kind of scroll in front of the body, diligent work, socle;
rare genre figure, called “za mä” - “figure of metal”. Such brass figures had no religious meaning, they were used as pieces of jewellery. Only chiefs and people of higher ranks could afford them. Above all the Dan and the Kran, possibly the Kpelle, have figural brass pieces, but no one else of their neighbours have. The figures were made by specialists “zä do mä” in lost wax technique.

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Comparing literature

Fischer, Eberhard & Hans Himmelheber, Die Kunst der Dan, Zürich 1976, p. 187, ill. 178

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Publications

Galerie Alain Bovis, Visages, Paris 2003, p. 14, ill. 5

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