Ex-French African art collection. In the north-west of Zaire, south of Oubangui, live the 6000 Moswea-Ngombe of Bantu language. Their neighbours are the Ngbandi and the Ngbaka and various groups banda . They knew no god but expected favors from their ancestors, including health and prosperity. Their jet knives used for hunting were used as coins. This faucille knife with a handle wrapped in twisted copper wire has a blade coated with a chipped oxidized patina. In Africa, before the colonial period, payments were never made in coins. Transactions were made using cauris, pearls, cattle, kola nuts, but also metals, including iron in particular. These primitive currencies were used in trade, social exchanges, for dowries in particular, but could also constitute objects of parade or throw weapons. In Sierra Leone, goods were valued against iron bars called barriferri. In 1556 in Djenné Jean-Léon the African observed that the people used iron to pay " things of little value". The king generally controlled the production or delivery of the kingdom's currency. The variety of these metallic forms is wide, and these sometimes take on the appearance of particularly aesthetic non-figurative sculpture.
Sold for 180.00 € This item is sold with its certificate of authenticity
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