WAGO_2021_definitivo_webLD

West African Gold Ornaments



West African Gold Ornaments



We present in this exhibition a selection of sculptural gold jewellery from Western Africa. These pieces have been chosen with artistic criteria in mind, and the intent to show the crea- tivity and originality of the artist goldsmiths who represent this region’s art, evoking the imagi- nation of their cultural, social, religious and geographic environment. To that end, we have selected works mainly from the G. F. Scanzi (1936-2017) collection -he started the gold ornaments collection in the 60s of the last century-, others from the collec- tions of M. Ester (1936-2013), P. Peroni, C. Ghysels, F. Barthelemy and other collectors who wish to remain anonymous. This exhibition has also been made possible thanks to the essential cooperation of other Afri- can culture enthusiasts. We take this opportunity to thank the family of Arturo Sarro and Kim Manresa for the loans of their photographs, as well as the other photographers who took part in this project. We especially appreciate the collaboration of Wilfried Glar for his contribution to bring to light the knowledge of the environment of gold and metals in general in West Africa, thanks to the contribution of his texts in this book. Thanks also to Klaus-Jochen Kruger for his collaboration in the texts. The David Serra-Fine Tribal Art gallery staff hopes that you enjoy viewing the exhibit as much as we have preparing it. David Serra - Fine Tribal Art 5

Trade routes and traders The routes within the trade networks changed over time. From the end of the 17th century and in the 18th Wildfred Glar centuries, the north-south routes began in Djenné, pas- sed through Bobo-Dioulasso or Ouagadougou bound Trade routes for Bouna, Kong and Bondoukou, later heading toward Begho and the goldfields to the south of the Akan, and Mande-speaking traders and craftsmen have played a then as far as Koumassi. vital role in the spread of specialized artisan activities, and the colonization of the Voltaic region. I. Wilks2 wrote of the trade routes: “It would seem that the increasing demand for gold It is, however, difficult to pinpoint the location of the- occasioned considerable economic activity in the se groups. In fact, the early travellers, ethnologists and western Sudan in the later 14th century. Inter alia, Man- colonial officials of the past almost always found mul- de-speaking traders (Malinke-Bambara-Dyula and So- tiple, often differing, terms, which were ethnonyms, or ninke) from the region of the Upper Niger made a vigo- words that designated specific ethnic groups, or were rous attempt to rationalize the structure of trade with used by others to name these groups, or professional the auriferous lands to the south and especially along or linguistic denominations. In addition to this were the the Jenne-Lower Guinea Coast axis. The movement of varied foreign names used by the same groups, that Mande-speakers into the Jenne area was probably part also contributed to the confusion. of a wider movement that took others into the Hausa lands of what is now northern Nigeria, where, accor- The traders took an interest in the goldfields of mo- ding to Kano Chronicle, they were responsible for the dern-day south-west Burkina Faso, and the Gold Coast introduction of Islam in the second half of the fourte- (Ghana). Thus, according to Förster1, it is likely that the enth century.” Mande traders were already in contact with the Akan in the 14th century. Trade routes were opened, and out- A route that stretched from Djenné toward the south posts were set up and outfitted along the way to pro- was established and extended, becoming the main tect and supply the travellers. Villages grew up around road. Mande traders (Dyula, Wangara) travelled south these locations, which led to the development of cer- and settled under the Bobo, where they established tain sites. Bobo-Dioulasso, located some two weeks’ journey south of Djenné. In the Senufo territory, they founded Kong, located another two weeks’ trip south of Bo- bo-Dioulasso. In the area populated by the Nafana and other peoples, they built Begho, also two weeks sou- th-east of Kong. There are a number of different spe- 6

llings for Begho: Bitugu, Bigu, Bitu, Bigou, Bi’u, Bew, are still known by this name in the west. For example, Beawu, Beko, Bégo. An alternative and possibly older they are called “To” in Mande or “Tonawa” in the Hausa route between Begho and Bobo-Dioulasso passed language. through Bouna. Therefore, cities like Bobo-Dioulasso, Kong and Bouna grew up as bases or outposts for the To cross the dense forests south of Begho, traders took caravans plying the Djenné - Begho route. Merchants more narrow pathways that the caravans could not tra- and owners of draft horses, donkeys and perhaps oxen, vel. One such west-bound road connected Begho and could rest and change their animals for fresh ones. Tra- Dormaa (Wam), passing through Ahafo, then heading velling these roads was not especially dangerous. The toward Twifo, and later toward Elmina on the coast. settlements in the regions the caravans passed throu- This is probably the route taken by the ambassador of gh were not subject to a “rule of law” because the bor- King John II (1481-95), an envoy of the Portuguese, to ders of the Mali Empire ended near Niger. They had travel to Mali from Elmina. There was a second route also had a nefarious reputation as cannibals received that travelled through Wenchi, Tafo (later Koumassi), from Ibn Battuta. Adansi, Assin and Cape Coast on the Atlantic seaboard. A third pathway, further to the east and perhaps more Begho was probably colonized by the “proto-Dyula” recent, crossed the Afram Plains and passed through around 1400. W. Welmers3 has hypothesized that the the Volta ravine in the Accra region. linguistic and other evidence suggests that this period is also applicable to the Dyula’s colonization of Kong. As the traders from tropical forest countries took these Today, Begho has been reduced to an ensemble of routes, they brought gold (and other products such as ruins. But Dyula-speaking communities still survive in kola nuts, etc.) toward Begho. These Mande merchants numerous sites around the region. Other languages, then continued through the forest, carrying their goods such as Hwela, Ligbi and Noumou are still spoken. The atop their heads. By the time the Portuguese arrived “proto-Dyula” may have descended from an earlier in 1471, they were already living in the Elmina region. Dyula migration. It is practically certain that they were Their influence along the coastal region was economic active participants in the Begho-Djenné trade axis. as well as cultural, as it is known that at least two 15th century chiefs held the Mande title of “Mansa”, which Though incomplete, Valentim Fernandes and Pache- means “leader”. Part of the Mande vocabulary in Twi co Pereira4 presented intriguing reports on trade be- clearly comes from this initial period of contact. tween the Djenné and the goldlands throughout the first decade of the 16th century. The Wangara, the Man- Places like Bondoukou, Begho and Kong prospered, ta- de-speaking Dyula, controlled trade at that time. Pa- king on important status thanks to the trade that made checo Pereira wrote of the gold-producing “Tom” of them poles of attraction. In addition to groups of tra- the south, with whom the Wangara worked. The Akan ders, these settlements also drew in craftsmen whose 7

work as weavers, blacksmiths or gold smelters was hi- therto unknown in these regions. It can be said that Mande-speaking traders blazed a trail for the Mande craftsmen who later took the roads that linked the inner Niger delta and the south. That is why it worth discussing them in greater detail. 1) Schematic overview of the trade routes that linked Djenné and the Gold Coast gold fields. 8

The traders who were once connected with the Songhay Empire of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.” The Wangara Summary: The oldest writings on the trader groups of the Ghana The term “Wangara” used in English tracts on the sub- Empire probably date back to the 11th century, by Al- ject can be equated with the term “Dyula”, frequently Bakri5 (1014-1094) a Muslim geographer from Cordova, used in the Voltaic region. Spain. His Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-Mamālik (Book of Hi- ghways and of Kingdoms) was based on the accounts The Dyula of ancient writers. He wrote of a group of traders called the Wangara, who traded in gold and kola nuts. Early explorers and ethnologists had a hard time dis- tinguishing among the different terms used to name I. Wilks6 also made reference to the “Wangara” name, ethnicities, groups of craftsmen and their languages. writing: “If it is asked what difference there is between Malinke Similar difficulties were found with the name Dyu- and Wankara, know then that the Malinke and Wankara la (Dioula, Diula, Djula, Jula), whose varied meanings are of one origin. Malinke is used to mean the soldier have changed over time, and may vary depending on among them, whereas Wankara refers to the one who the speaker, place or context (the same can be said for engages in trade and travels from one horizon to ano- groups of craftsmen such as the Lokho). The name not ther.” only designates a language or professional activity; it is also an ethnonym, the appellation or name that a group Mande-speaking traders in the central region of the of the same ethnicity uses to refer to themselves. country were also called “Wangara” in other 16th and 17th century sources. This term has remained in use in B. Perinbam8 wrote the following about this dual na- the English-speaking territory (Gold Coast), and is often ming: used in modern-day Ghana. “An examination of Dyula origins has shown that whi- le Dyula are mainly Mande-speaking itinerant tra- P. Lovejoy7 also studied the Wangara’s role in and in- ders, many trace their origins to the Soninke of Dia fluence on the economic development of western and in the region of the upper Niger. As professionals or southern Sudan. He provides a summary at the end of semi-professionals, they are differentiated from the his article: ethnic Dyula, who migrated sometime during or after “The term “Wangara” has commonly been used to des- the fourteenth century, into the Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina cribe the gold merchants of ancient Mali and Ghana Faso, southern Mali, northern Ghana and Guinea, and and has been equated with ‘Juula’ (Dyula). In (...) Hau- who mainly speak the Dyula dialect. There is, howe- saland, the Wangara were descendants of merchants 9

ver, some overlap. Among the ethnic Dyula, trade also References: is the most common occupation, and Islam the most current religion. Hence it is sometimes difficult to dis- 1 Till Förster, Glänzend wie Gold, 1987, p. 120 tinguish an ethnic from a professional Dyula. After the 2 Ivor Wilks, A Medieval Trade-Route From The Niger To The Gulf Of fourteenth century, which marked the possible be- Guinea, In: Journal of African History, 111, 2 (1962), ginnings of Mande migrations (...) the proto-dyula be- p. 337-341. gan to be differentiated as a group of professional or 3 William E. Welmers, African Language Structures, 1973, communi- semi-professional long distance traders. The modern cations personnelles. Dyula appeared during the colonial era.” 4 Pacheco D. Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, ed. R. Mauny, 1956. K. Bauer9 performed an in-depth study on the Dyula 5 Al-Bakri, Kitab al-Masalik wa-al-Mamalik, 1068. that provided several compelling in-sights. On page 31 6 Ivor Wilks, Wangara, Akan And Portuguese In The Fifteenth And of her text she states: Sixteenth Centuries, In : Journal of African History, 23, 3 (1982), p. “In the late 19th century, the term “Dioula” was used as 333-349. an ethnonym in colonial vocabulary to refer to Muslim 7 Paul E. Lovejoy, The Role Of The Wangara In The Economic Trans- traders.” formation Of The Central Sudan In The Fifteenth And Sixteenth Cen- turies, In : Journal of African History, XK, 2 (1978), p. 173-193. It remains unclear whether the term “Dioula” was used 8 Barbara Perinbam, Notes on dyula origins and nomenclature, In: as an ethnonym in the pre-colonial era. Bulletin de l'Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire. Série B, Sciences L. Binger10 has written that in its origins “Dioula” was humaines, 1974, p. 676-690. an ethnic appellation, onto which the “trader” meaning 9 Kerstin Bauer, Kleidung und Kleidungspraktiken im Norden der was later added. Côte d’Ivoire, 2007. 10 Louis-Gustave Binger, Du Niger au golfe de Guinée par le pays de In closing, the following could be said about the Dyula: Kong et le Mossi, 1892, p. 277. The term Dyula was and is used both as an ethnic appe- llation (ethnonym) and to refer to the “trader” class. They are multilingual groups who trace their origins to the Upper Niger region. They set up trading outposts at strategic points along the north-south routes starting in the 15th century. The leaders of some villages (i.e. Kong) cleared the way for groups of crafts-men originating in Mali to settle in the Voltaic region. Bozo fisherman, Niger River. David Serra, 1995. 10



The Gold Routes Wilfried Glar & Klaus-Jochen Krüger The Diula long-distance traders Al-Bakri (1014-1094 AD), a Muslim geographer from Cordoba (Spain), mentions, in the 11th Century, for the first time ever, the existence and origin of the Dioula in his document Kitab al-Masalik wa-al-Mamalik (Roads and Kingdoms book). In it, he mentions the existence of a Muslim tribe called Wangara, whom he describes as “those who traded with gold and Kola nuts”. At that time, the Dioula (a subgroup of the Mandé) already dominated supra-regional trade from the Sahara desert to the confines of the forest of the Akan. Beginning in the Late Middle Ages (circa 1400), the demand for gold increased continually in Europe, Central Asia and other countries. The creation of new goldmines in western Africa was accompanied by the establishment of a trade network that spread from the Black Volta Valley to the goldmi- nes in the forest of the Akan. The long-distance trade routes of the West-African countries crossed the Sahara to the North African Mediterranean coast. From the 8th Century until the discovery of America, Afri- ca was Europe's main gold supplier. Thanks to trade with the Muslim merchants of the North, not only did basic goods such as salt reach the region, but so too did cultural achievements, including, in all probability, tex- tile production, new tannery techniques and bronze smelting. Some of these long-distance traders, as well as the groups of craftsmen that accompanied them, gradually settled in suitable sites along the trade route network. They married the women of their hosts and adopted their respective languages. Thus, the traders were fo- llowed by craftsmen who, as time went by, were assimilated virtually in their entirety.1 1 Wilfried, Glar; Krüger, Klaus-Jochen Krü- ger; Serra i Ester, David. Les Lorhon, premiers fondeurs de la route de l’or. David Serra- Art Tribal, Barcelona 2015. 12

Akan Goldsmithing These original pieces were used as body jewellery, sword ornaments, in hair as headdresses, and occasio- David Serra nally to decorate the velvet of crowns and hats. Some of the ornaments reflect a stylized fusion of ani- The opening of these trade routes, over which gold mals, plants, figures and human faces, expressing a was the most prized product shipped, marked the be- more abstract idiom, while others’ styles are more rea- ginning of an artisan industry that developed to mine listic. These jewels were—and still are—exhibited by di- the precious metal. The gold trade brought prosperity fferent clans of the community in a number of the Akan to the villages along these trade routes, and the places people’s annual celebrations. where gold was mined. This led to the creation and de- velopment of several local kingdoms. In this setting, a One of these, called the “Festival of Generations” or the unique culture was born and grew. Goldsmithery held “Great Gold Festival” is held by the Adioukrous, peoples a prominent place in it. of the Grands-Ponts region, in south-east Ivory Coast. There, the ancestors of all the community clans, digni- Groups of the Sahara desert and the Sahel, such as the taries and their families are honoured. They decorate Mauri, the Fula, and others, created their own recurrent their homes and bodies to put their gold jewels and styles. But it was in the peoples of Akan origin, settled appliqués on display. in the region near the Gulf of Guinea, where this art rea- ched its most unique significance. Gold plays a crucial symbolic role among the Akan peoples of Ivory Coast and Ghana, as it is considered a According to some goldsmiths, the working of precious sacred element and is worshipped as such. metal was introduced into this region of Ivory Coast by Akan immigrants from Ghana. Though it remains an The very nature of the material, found in its original sta- open question, it cannot be denied that some of the te in the earth, adds credence to the Akan belief that gold works of Ghana and Ivory Coast bear a great re- this metal has its own eternal life. semblance to one another. This notwithstanding, many Ivory Coast peoples developed their own, very original and creative styles, readily observable in their diverse artistic expressions. The jewels and sculptures on display in this exhibition, most made with 9 and 16 karat alloys, belonged to chiefs, dignitaries or noble families, and made up part of their wealth. They were worn at ceremonies and ce- lebrations to show their beauty, power and riches. 13



Selection of artworks



Female sculpture Agni, Ivory Coast H. 42 cm early 20th century Lobi region, Burkina Faso. David Serra, 2005. 17



Earrings Peul, Mali W. 10,5 cm Montse Ester Old Collection, Barcelona. Dancer, West Africa. Kim Manresa, 1996. 19

Earrings Peul, Mali W. 10,5 cm Montse Ester Old Collection, Barcelona. Peul woman, Mopti. Kim Manresa, 1994. 20





Throat ornament Tukulor/Peul, Mali H. 4,5 cm Montse Ester Old Collection, Barcelona. Peul woman. Arturo Sarrò, 1982. 23



Necklace 25 Baule, Ivory Coast 12/14K L. 117 cm Spiral discs of wax filaments, Bouake, Ivory Coast. David Serra, 2015.

Pectoral disc Asante, Ghana 14/16K D. 9 cm Late 19th century - early 20th century Private Collection, Spain. 26

Pectoral disc/ Sèn'zè necklace central disc Baule, Ivory Coast 12/14K D. 8,5 cm 27

Toukpè Female Head ornament Double fish stylization Lagoon Region, Ivory Coast 9/12K H. 9,8 cm 28

Pendant Sawfish stylization Akan group Ivory Coast/Ghana 14K W. 13,5 cm Early 20th century or before 29



Ornament Conch Akan group Ivory Coast/Ghana 14K W. 6,2 cm Bella girl, Mali. Arturo Sarró, 1980. 31

Center piece of a necklace/ Female head ornament Sawfish stylization Lagoon Region, Ivory Coast 14K W. 14,5 cm 32

Toukpé female head orna- ment Double fish stylization Lagoon Region, Ivory Coast 9/12K H. 9,5 cm 33

Ornament Elephant stylization Lagoon Region, Ivory Coast 14K W. 12 cm 34

Pectoral disc/ Sèn'zè necklace central disc Baule, Ivory Coast 14/16K D. 7 cm 35

Pectoral disc/ Sèn'zè necklace central disc Baule, Ivory Coast 9/12K D. 8,4 cm Ghysels Collection 36

Sword ornament Turkey Akan group, Ghana 14K H. 9,2 cm 37



To n'glo female head ornament Double fish stylization Lagoon Region, Ivory Coast 14K W. 9,8 cm Mud fisherman, Togo. Kim Manresa, 1996. 39

Sèn'zè necklace central disc Birds Baule, Ivory Coast 12/14K D. 9,2 cm Late 19th century - early 20th century 40

Pectoral disc/ Sèn'zè necklace central disc Birds Akan group Ghana/Ivory Coast 14K D. 9,2 cm Late 19th century - early 20th century 41

Afoto female head ornament Hunting snake Baule, Ivory Coast 18/20K D. 5,5 cm 42

Aklo female head ornament Frog Baule, Ivory Coast, 18/22K H. 6,5 cm 43

Female ornament Elephant head stylization Lagoon Region, Ivory Coast 14K H. 9 cm Late 19th century - early 20th century Private Collection, Spain. Elephant, Pendjari National Park. Benin Kim 44 Manresa, 2012.



Hanging ornament Ram sculpture Akan group Ghana/Ivory Coast 14/18K W. 8 cm 46

Male hat ornament/ exhibition ornament Leopard stylization Lagoon region, Ivory Coast 14K W. 5,5 cm 47



Boua hanging ornament Bovine stylization Akan group Lagoon Region Ivory Coast/Ghana 14K W. 10 cm Herd of zebu, Burkina Faso. David Serra, 1998. 49

Tandi head ornament Face stilization Ebrie Lagoon Region, Ivory Coast 14K H. 9,2 cm Ghysels Collection. 50