references
and published a number of major works, in particular, in 1957, Le Problème des chefferies traditionnelles en Côte d’Ivoire, and in 1960, Croyances religieuses et coutumes juridiques des Agni de Côte d’Ivoire. 24. "In the past, men and women wore around their necks, in their hair and on their joints, elbows, wrists, knees, ankles, etc., strings of pearls of all sizes, alternating most of the time with gold nuggets" (F.-J. Amon d’Aby, Croyances religieuses et coutumes juridiques des Agni de Côte d’Ivoire, Paris, Editions Larose, 1960, p. 43). 25. Ibid., p. 44-45. 26. Abbé Prévost, Histoire Générale des Voyages ou nouvelle collection de toutes les relations de voyages, The Hague, Pierre de Hondt, 1748, volume V, p. 78-79. 27. See François Neyt, op. cit., p. 284-285. 28. Denise Paulme, "Première approche des Atié (Côte d’Ivoire)", in Cahiers d’études africaines, vol. 6, n° 21, 1966, p.115-117. 29. "Independent in reality, the village forms the most compact political grouping, dependent on a single and more or less respected authority", Captain Crosson, L’Ethnographie de la Côte d’Ivoire (Attié), suppl. to Bull. du Comité de l’Afrique française, X, 1900, p. 95 (quoted by D. Paulme, art. cit. p. 90). 30. Anne-Marie Bouttiaux, in Embodiments, Masterworks of African Figurative Sculpture, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Munich-New York, DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2015, p. 79. 31. O. Dapper, Description de l’Afrique, Amsterdam, Wolfgang & Waesberge, 1986, p. 278. 32. For Aniaba, see Roger Little, Histoire de Louis Aniaba, University of Exeter Press, 2000; and Frédéric Couderc, Prince ébène, Paris, Presses de la Renaissance, 2003. 33. Histoire universelle depuis le commencement du monde, Paris, Moutard, Imprimeur de la Reine, 1784, volume 26, p. 441. 34. Abbé Delaporte, in Le Voyageur françois, Paris, Cellot, volume XV, "La Côte d’Ivoire", 1772, p. 8. 35. Nevertheless, in the past, these societies were highly hierarchical. At the bottom were the captives, called kanga, akoa or abluwa. Then the nobles, "dehewa" or "tilé-won-nan" (that is, "flesh of the head"). At the top are the "afilié-kpangni", the clan chief, the intermediary between the living and the ancestors, the gods and the spirits. He invokes the deceased and makes sacrifices in the name of all the members of the community. The symbol of the clan is a seat, or a group of seats, the adya-bia, which the captives cannot inherit. 36. For a reproduction, see p. 85, in Alain-Michel Boyer, "Binger à la croisée des arts", L’Afrique en Noir et Blanc, du fleuve Niger au Golfe de Guinée (1887-1892), Paris, Somogy, 2009. 37. A photograph of a statue of this kind can be seen in Monica Blackmun Visonà, "Créativité artistique et anonymat dans la région des Lagunes en Côte d’Ivoire", in Eberhard Fischer and Lorenz Homberger, Les Maîtres de la scultpure de Côte d’Ivoire, Paris, Musée du Quai BranlySkira, 2015, p. 63, plate 64. See too: African Art in the Barnes Foundation, Skira/Rizzoli, 2015, p. 172, fig. 1. 38. See Monica Blackmun Visonà, in Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, Arts de la Côte d’Ivoire, Geneva, Musée Barbier-Mueller, 1993, t. 1, p. 379. See too: African Art in the Barnes Foundation, Skira/Rizzoli, 2015, p. 168. 39. See photographs in Alain-Michel Boyer, Les Arts d’Afrique, Paris, Hazan, 2006, p. 119, 122, 154, 155. 40. Denise Paulme, art. cit., p. 101. 41. See photograph in Monica Blackmun Visonà, Arts de la Côte d’Ivoire, ibid.. p. 378, fig. 378. 42. See Amon d’Aby, op. cit.p. 136.
47 (page 56) MFINU NECKREST, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Hard wood with bright brown patina and red tints, upholsterer's nails
There are some objects in the history of art that leave a lasting mark on people's minds, which combine all the spirit of a culture or sometimes even an entire region. These geographic absolute icons summarise an artist's skill, contain the spirit of an era and the signature of a civilisation. Although the neck rest shown here cannot "sum up" Africa, with all its varied cultures, it still lea
