Dan Wakemia ladle
Ceremonial african Dan spoons "wa ke mia" or "wunkirmian" were given to elder women among the Dan of the Ivory Coast and Liberia as insignia to their hospitality and tangible representation of their status.
A walking spoon: it sounds like the boldest of modernist design innovation.
The concept it has in fact existed for a long time amongst the Dan and their We neighbours.
No more is it a mere spoon but rather an object of prestige. Never used during ordinary meals, this ceremonial ladle was, as evidenced by its patina, often manipulated, but mostly brandished as a sceptre during receptions - celebrating a clearing of land, the return of circumcised men, etc.
Women vying to outdo each other in generosity made it a point of honour to gather and prepare the food.
In Africa wealth commands deference and respect: each woman wishes to outshine her competitors to acquire the title of wakede ("queen of the feast") - or klonyano for the We.
The ladle serves as a measuring device for distributing food in community dishes that everyone will draw from using their right hand.
When the victor is designated, the utensil becomes her trophy and she walks around holding it at arm's length . Generally known as mia, it becomes megalumia when, as is the case here, it has legs.
What can be seen in majesty here: although a human figure is sculpted in this piece, from torso to feet, with sensual curving hips and thighs, on a par with the most successful creations of the statuary, it is because the moving body is of crucial importance in its use : the face has been replaced by the concave surface of the spoon it is to offer an ostentatious vision of largess.
With great artistic authority, the utilitarian requirements have been transmuted, sublimated. Both parts come together in a majestic unity, balancing hollows and full spaces, lines and elliptical shapes so that its volumes retain the memory of a common crucible - the object becoming a double of the woman who brandishes it.
As a symbol of opulence, generosity, it enables the owner to gain ascendancy through munificence.
02287
Data sheet
- Presumed dating
- 2nd half XXth
- Size
- 43 cm
- Ethnic group
- Material(s)
- Wood
- Country
- Origin
- Tribal art collection France
- Condition
- Excellent
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Ceremonial african Dan spoons "wa ke mia" or "wunkirmian" were given to elder women among the Dan of the Ivory Coast and Liberia as insignia to their hospitality and tangible representation of their status.
A walking spoon: it sounds like the boldest of modernist design innovation.
The concept it has in fact existed for a long time amongst the Dan and their We neighbours.
No more is it a mere spoon but rather an object of prestige. Never used during ordinary meals, this ceremonial ladle was, as evidenced by its patina, often manipulated, but mostly brandished as a sceptre during receptions - celebrating a clearing of land, the return of circumcised men, etc.
Women vying to outdo each other in generosity made it a point of honour to gather and prepare the food.
In Africa wealth commands deference and respect: each woman wishes to outshine her competitors to acquire the title of wakede ("queen of the feast") - or klonyano for the We.
The ladle serves as a measuring device for distributing food in community dishes that everyone will draw from using their right hand.
When the victor is designated, the utensil becomes her trophy and she walks around holding it at arm's length . Generally known as mia, it becomes megalumia when, as is the case here, it has legs.
What can be seen in majesty here: although a human figure is sculpted in this piece, from torso to feet, with sensual curving hips and thighs, on a par with the most successful creations of the statuary, it is because the moving body is of crucial importance in its use : the face has been replaced by the concave surface of the spoon it is to offer an ostentatious vision of largess.
With great artistic authority, the utilitarian requirements have been transmuted, sublimated. Both parts come together in a majestic unity, balancing hollows and full spaces, lines and elliptical shapes so that its volumes retain the memory of a common crucible - the object becoming a double of the woman who brandishes it.
As a symbol of opulence, generosity, it enables the owner to gain ascendancy through munificence.