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| FINE EFIK NIGERIAN BRASS NEPTUNE CHARGER, c.1900 |
£95 |
Plain brass pans, known as Neptunes, were traded from Europe to West Africa from as early 1870. Most of them were made in Birmingham. Efik women in Akwa Akpa (Old Calabar) began the practice of decorating them with face-hammered relief work. They used a steel rod hit with a hammer to create floral and figurative designs of punched dots.
This dish is decorated with the figure of a mermaid holding a comb & mirror surrounded by fish & other water-spirited animals. The mermaid has an English-style that is seen on 17th century slipware dishes but here represents the female God Oshun.
Similar dishes have been shown to have been manufactured as early as the 1860s or 1870s. Sometimes called ‘Muntz metal’, this type of brass has added zinc for extra strength. But the style continued to the turn of the century. Often regarded as important prestige items by the local chiefs they were displayed with great ceremony. Items of efik decorated brass were also presented by the king and chiefs to important dignitaries and distinguished visitors to the area. these chargers are interesting transcultural aesthetic expressions resulting from a history of European contact . |
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