African Miniature Bronzes

Mali, a foundry yard, centuries of practice behind it. A wax model is set in clay, the metal is poured, and the mold is broken to let the figure out.

African miniature bronzes follow that lost-wax method. Dogon equestrian figures and kneeling couples from Mali. Kotoko figures from the Chari River in Chad. Djenne horsemen recalling the merchant elite who imported horses at great cost from the Arab world. Lobi and Senufo figures from Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, Ashanti brass gold weights from Ghana, Edo figures from Benin, Bambara, Gan and Baule castings, maternity figures and seated and standing couples, most nineteenth and twentieth century.

Small bronzes take a deep brown patina where hands have held them. A dozen on stepped bases across a library shelf reads as one composition.

Small, and still the loudest thing in the room.