African brass

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Bronze relief of a ruling group from the Kingdom of Benin from the 16th / 17th centuries Century.
Bronze bust of an Obas (little king) from the Kingdom of Benin , from the 19th century.

African brass is an African Iron Age casting process for different metal alloys in the lost wax process . The brass was originally a courtly art (aulik) of the Iron Age kingdoms in Africa . The busts of Benin depict kings and gods and were used for ancestor worship . Relief panels were attached to the facades of temples and residences. Jewelry was also made. The gold weights of the Ashanti (figures of animals and plants) were used to weigh the gold dust . The gold trade was the prerequisite for the introduction of sub-Saharan technology and the import of metals.

The model

The wax model was covered with a fine, liquid clay or with charcoal powder suspended in water . A clay coating bound by cotton or palm fiber was applied to the layer. The dried model was heated so that the wax ran out through sprues. The Shilluk used tree sap.

Metals

Copper and zinc ( brass ), copper and tin ( bronze ) or silver and lead (an alloy that Schilluk used for bracelets) were used as casting material for African brass . The mixing proportions of the alloys varied, as both imported metal and old material were melted down. Most objects are made of brass. In the bronzes of the Ife and in the Kingdom of Benin, the lead and zinc content outweighs the tin.

history

Thurstan Shaw (1914–2013) found the oldest brass artifacts to date (9th century AD ) in Igbo Ukwu in the land of the Igbo . The tumuli in which brass objects were found must have been created before the Islamization of the old Kingdom of Ghana (in the 10th and 11th centuries). The Akan peoples (Ashanti, Baule) brought the technology from the Killi area south to the West African coast in the 11th and 12th centuries. The brass came to Ife and Benin from the kingdom of Mali (or, as others assume, from the Hausa states ). Al-Husain testifies to the exchange of gold for copper in Fezzan around 950 . Arab histories confirm the export of copper to West African countries since the 11th century AD. In Mauritania , the remains of an unsuccessful caravan from around AD 1100 that had transported copper bars were discovered.

In many languages ​​of West Africa south of the Sahara, copper is called “red iron” because it was first known after iron.

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