Four manillas

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Description

brass, a) manilla, Ivory Coast/Dan, d: 8 cm, ridges and plaited band pattern, missing parts in the cast, cracks; b) manilla, Ivory Coast/Dan, d: 10,5 cm; c) manilla “mandua”, Nigeria/Niger, h: 7 cm, b: 17 cm, made of twisted copper bars with two octagonal knobs at both ends, embellished with refined engraved decorations; these big anklets were used by many peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa: Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Nigeria etc. In ancient times they were used as wedding currency or in transactions according to the laws of land, water, pasture or cattle commerce. Married woman used to wear them on their ankles; d) manilla, d: 7 cm, with four disc-shaped projections, dam., missing parts in the cast

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Littérature comparée

Bartolomucci, Adolfo, African Currency, Mailand 2012, ill. 11 (a) Ballarini, Roberto, The perfect form, Mailand 2009, p. 135 (d) Glar, Wilfried, Afrikanische Reife, Teil 5: Die Gurma, Bedburg 2008, p. 49

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