Large Beautiful Baule Ring – Mami Wata – Cote d’Ivoire / Ivory Coast

20th century. Bronze. Cm. 6,0 high (2.36″); Gr. 42,7 (1.51 oz.). Inner diameter cm. 2,3 (0.91″).

Mami Wata is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa, and in the African diaspora in the Americas.

This type of ring is not intended to be worn daily but rather is brought to the diviner by the person consulting him.

Metal works like this Baule ring is molded in bronze by ‘the lost wax method’. This kind of metal molding is made with a wax model and a mold made from a heat proof material, such as clay, in which the liquid metal is poured into through pipes and openings, and the wax is melted and drained away. The method is common on every continent exept Australia, and dates back to 3rd millenium BC and has sustained few changes since then.

The Baule are an Akan people and one of the largest groups in Côte d’Ivoire who historically migrated from Ghana.

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