Pendant

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Pendant

Artist Baule People

Place of OriginIvory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)

Dateearly 20th century

Dimensions2 1/4 × 1 7/8 × 3/4 in., 1.8oz. (5.7 × 4.8 × 1.9 cm)

Mediumcast and tooled gold

ClassificationJewelry

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1977.72

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 01

Label TextSkillfully cast, this gold pendant represents the face of an elderly man with braided hair and beard. The raised lines between the eyes and at the temples are cosmetic scarifcation marks. Each Baule head pendant is individualized. They are thought to be idealized portraits of friends or lovers. Baule people give a sacred value to gold. For them, it is like a god and is treated as an heirloom that evokes the presence of the ancestors. Baule families keep gold in ancestral treasuries called aja, which represent the ancestors and serve as the “soul” of the family.Published ReferencesRatton, Charles, "L'or Fetische," Aspects, pp. 136-155.

"Art Negre," Presence Africaine, 10-11.

Bardon, Pierre, Catalogue Collection des Masques d'or Baoulé de l'Institute Francais d'Afrique Noire, Dalear, 1948.

"1978 Annual Report," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 21, no. 1, 1979, rper. p. 17.

Guip, David, "Sacred Relics, Ritual Objects: Instructional resources from the Toledo Museum of Art," Art Education, vol. 46, no. 6, Nov. 1993, p. 32, 33, repr. p. 31 (col.).

Roberts, Mary Nooter, Facing Africa: The African Art Collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1998, pp. 36-37, repr. (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 57, repr. (col.).

Eyo, Ekpo, From Shrines to Showcases: Masterpieces of Nigerian Art, Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, 2009, no. 118, p. 172-73, repr. (col.) (front and back views).