19th C. West African Sahelian Leaded Brass Armlet - Spiral Coil Motif

West Africa, Sahel region. A broad cuff of leaded brass, lost-wax cast in a single open-ended band whose flaring lip and gently waisted profile were designed to grip the forearm. The exterior carries a raised register of linked spirals set between ladder-like bands of fine incised striations, a coiled vocabulary that recurs across Sahelian metalwork from the Niger bend to the Volta basin and is widely read as a sign of continuity, fertility, and protective encirclement. Centuries of wear have burnished the high points to a dark olive sheen while verdigris has settled into the recesses. Heavy ornaments of this type were worn by women as portable wealth and as markers of marital status or lineage, accumulated over a lifetime and often passed down, the metal itself valued as much as the form. Brass reached the Sahel along the trans-Saharan caravan routes long before it was cast locally, arriving as ingots, basins, and manillas traded south from the Maghreb and, later, from European coastal factories. Smiths of the region, often members of endogamous casting castes such as the Mande numu or the Tuareg inadan, reworked this imported alloy by the cire perdue method: a wax model over a clay core, invested, burned out, and flooded with molten metal. Deliberate leading of the alloy lowered the melting point and improved flow into fine detail like the spiral registers seen here, a practical choice that also explains the metal's weight and softness. Please note that this bracelet contains up to 18% lead and is not recommended for wear. Item # 204185

Estimate:$200

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