Iyembe coinage, Democratic Republic of Congo - Lot 75

Lot n° 75
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Estimation :
350 - 400 EUR
Iyembe coinage, Democratic Republic of Congo - Lot 75
Iyembe coinage, Democratic Republic of Congo Late 19th - early 20th century Wrought iron H. 101 cm Bibliography: *Gueden, Marie. " La forme serpentine, " image du mouvement ", au tournant du XXe siècle en France : héritage polymorphe et pérennité paradoxale dans l'esthétique scientifique et métaphysique ", Nouvelle revue d'esthétique, vol. 28, no. 2, 2021. Surprising by the grace and fluidity of its volumes, captivating by the serpentine form of its curves, this coin bears witness to the creative genius of the blacksmith who fashioned it. Detaching himself from all formal figuration, the artist favors the abstraction of undulatory movement, whose "whirling imitates divine life, circulating through the labyrinth of the world. The suppleness of this spiral, whose presence is reinforced by its three-dimensionality, is matched by a powerful imagination, from the hypnotic force of the serpent's undulation, to the undulating movement of flames, or the sensuality inherent in the feminine character of every being. This "line of beauty", as Michelangelo called it, would be associated with "the form of feeling, ensuring harmony and living unity "*. If this pure, organic form guided and inspired the greatest masters of the Renaissance, the blacksmiths of sub-Saharan Africa also detected this creative breath, inscribing this beautiful Iyembe coin in a universal art history.
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