Songye brass adze

[Tim Simmons]

Freddy, Luc, Danny et al. What do you make of this? I have had my eye on it for well over a year but today the price was finally low enough for me to snap it up. It appears to be polished copper but looking with care you can see that it is gilded with a gold alloy even the copper nails are gilded. I have tied as best I can to show pictures where the gild has worn and the copper can be seen, not easy with just point and snap ability. When I got home I did tests with 18ct and 9ct test acids. There was no reaction to the 18ct test but there was to the 9ct test. I think it is probably less than 9ct, more a copper wash with just enough gold to resist tarnish and to give colour. The blade is 18cm long, the handle 47cm long. I know gilding is ancient but in the Congo/Central Africa? It has seen use, mid 20th century?

[Luc LEFEBVRE]

Maybe an order made by a belgian settler ?
Typical Songye adze have iron blade with copper inlay, and a handle cover of copper.
Luc

[Tim Simmons]

On close inspection I think this has been done by leaf after the construction of the object. I have information on gold work and leaf from West Africa but nothing on real sub-Saharan Africa. The question is-- has the leaf been made locally or is it an import? I can see no reason why Songye? smiths/artists did not have the skills or materials at hand. I do not think Songye means an isolated people.

[Mapico1]

Hi Tim,
handle is probably a Tetela one who also have multiple-dot decoration on other types of their axes and on their spears.
Blade however is not right in my opinion,wrong angle,shape and not long enough.About gold...????? don't know...not seen before.
Regards,
Danny

[Tim Simmons]

Thank you Danny, a very ostentatious piece. Luckily I got it for a snip so I have just about enough money to get a copy of a book "The red gold of Africa" and hope that there may be some answers on the use of copper alloys and leaf. Chapter 4 looks promising.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=C...gold+of+africa

[Tim Simmons]

Just looking around, this is the kind of copper alloy I am thinking about. Used as a leaf to gild.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_brass

[Tim Simmons]

There seems little doubt that artist in the Congo were familar with copper alloys. I cannot upload a whole book. Here are some snippets. It is not fully explained what they mean by the colour of "china" it could be the gild on china. The artists knew about colour wether it was native smelted and alloyed or made from import metals. Making leaf would not be a problem for such artists and smiths. The brass blade and finish all suggest it to be one of the many objets de luxe made for the court. This book is well worth getting.

[Tim Simmons]

Other goods from the Gold coast could come the other way.