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Bracelet

before 1927
Copper alloy
Overall: 16 x 14.2 cm (6 5/16 x 5 9/16 in.)
Gift of Willett Rankin Wilson, in memory of Audley R. and Edna Moore Wilson 1982.341.1
Location: 108A Sub-Saharan
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Did You Know?

From 1822 to 1847, the American Colonization Society colonized what became Liberia. Americo-Liberians (Congau) ruled until 1980. However, blacksmiths generally sourced brass for jewelry making from kettles or bullets brought by nearby French colonials from the 1890s onwards.

Description

This bracelet was created by the "lost-wax" (cire-perdue) technique---first modelled in wax, next covered with clay, then heated to melt or "lose" the wax, which was replaced by molten brass. Several such anklets were attached at the time of a woman's marriage and only removed after her death. Their weight and decorative richness expressed her husband's wealth and prestige as well as her own favored status, for such a woman was expected to live a life of some leisure while other wives and retainers did farming and domestic chores. The spheres around the perimeter--bells--added beautiful sounds to an impressive sight.
Bracelet

Bracelet

before 1927

Africa, West Africa, Liberia, Dan-style maker

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