Récade Fon, Benin - Lot 65

Lot n° 65
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Estimation :
500 - 1000 EUR
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Result : 550EUR
Récade Fon, Benin - Lot 65
Récade Fon, Benin Wood H. 60 cm Provenance : Galerie Kanaga (Mangin), according to oral information from the current owner. Among the seven symbols of authority of the Fon ruler of Dahomey, the recades, makpo, royal scepter, used to assert their status as a distinctive attribute of sovereignty - without which they could not go out in public - were also batons of command. The term "recado", derived from the Portuguese word for "message", attests to their second use. Given to messengers, they guaranteed their recipients the authenticity of royal messages. Identifiable by the iconography illustrated at the top: "each attribute being an ideogram or allegorical expression of an idea, a fact or an important event, it becomes an original form of fixation and transmission of thought or feelings" (Adandé, Les récades des Rois du Dahomey, 1962, p. 13). The figure of the lion on this example, whose jaw and mouth are meticulously treated - finely filed teeth, imposing, pointed canines - could identify this recade with King Glélé (1858-1889), whose sentence, strength and power it recalls: "A powerful lion who with his teeth makes all the animals in the bush tremble" (Gaëlle Beaujean-Baltzer, Artistes d'Abomey, 2009, p. 246).
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