H x W x D: 40 x 19 x 3.2 cm (15 3/4 x 7 1/2 x 1 1/4 in.)
Type:
Textile and Fiber Arts
Geography:
Côte d'Ivoire
Date:
Early to mid-20th century
Label Text:
Among the Baule of Côte d'Ivoire, gold-covered wooden figures, fly whisk handles, sword hilts, knife handles, linguist staff finials, combs, hair pins and other objects, including non-functional gongs and strikers, lanterns, jugs, trumpets, rifles, hats and umbrellas, are prestige items owned by chiefs and individuals of high status. They are part of the family's inheritance and are linked to ancestral forces and the soul of the family. Gold-covered objects are placed on display for funerals, for certain masquerade performances and for ceremonies associated with leadership. Gold-handled fly whisks may also "be given to portrait-mask dancers to carry during performances as a sign of honor; a compliment and the objects are again returned to the owner after the dance."
Gold-leafing is a centuries-old technique that may have been introduced to the Baule of Côte d'Ivoire from the Akan region of Ghana. In gold-leafing a small pellet of gold is repeatedly hammered and turned on an anvil to achieve a uniformly thin sheet. This leaf of gold is then placed on an ornately carved object and affixed with tiny metal staples or an adhesive.
Description:
Horsetail fly whisk ornamented with an elaborately carved and gilded handle. The cylindrical handle is completely covered with horizontal and vertical registers composed of incised cross-hatching, raised bands and zigzag patterns. The grip of the handle swells out and then tapers to a point. The upper portion of the handle is embellished with four relief carved human faces. A thick bundle of horse hair is secured to the top end of the handle with tightly wrapped fiber strands of red and natural color. Though generally in good condition, the gold leaf has flaked away around the grip, revealing the tightly spaced incised designs carved by a skilled artist.
Provenance:
Frederick and Claire Mebel collection, -- to ca. 1987-1990
Mr. and Mrs. Brian Leyden, New York, ca. 1987-1990 to 2001
Exhibition History:
Good As Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 24, 2018-February 2, 2020; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, September 16, 2020-January 3, 2021
African Mosaic: Selections from the Permanent Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2013–August 12, 2019
African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2010-November 13, 2013
Published References:
Vogel, Susan Mullin. 1997. Baule: African Art, Western Eyes. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 198.
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