Begin the story…

THOUGHT TO HAIL FROM A PEOPLE that are predominantly found in westernmost Niger, this intricately patterned and uniquely shaped bracelet resists complete ascertainment. The nomadic Djerma or Zarma-Songhai have numbered kings and warriors, scribes and artisans, craftsmen, hunters and fishermen over history and the exact origins of this nineteenth-century artifact remain elusive. However, by exploring the various avenues behind this artifact’s physical attributes as described above, we can gain some insight into the mystery held within.

“Bracelet”

WITH A STRIKING MOTTLED FINISH, this distinctive copper-alloy bracelet features six round protrusions as well as two other fan-shaped raised extensions. The outer side of the cuff-like structure features an incised design with fine, twisting, rope-like lines that encircle the bracelet. Inset between these formations are a series of wavy lines, that perhaps suggest snakes.

Initially identified by the Brooklyn Museum as possibly originating in Niger and crafted by Djerma artisans, additional research suggests that it might actually have been fashioned by the Gourmanché (or Gurma) ethnic group that originally came from Burkina Faso. According to African author and authority Tamaro Touré, the piece was once worn on the forearm by young boys and girls.

“It is a veritable weapon (Touré, 2012,  109),” she writes, adding that the eight protrusions that top the circular bracelet, in much the same style as the Brooklyn Museum artifact, seem meant to play a defensive role. Also like the Brooklyn Museum’s object, the surface is decorated with similarly twisted ropey lines. Touré further notes that the bracelet was purchased in Niamey, the capital of Niger, and that it comes from collections made in that urban area. Ascertaining the true origin of the Brooklyn Museum’s artifact is complicated by the historic migration of the African population and also the fact that concentrations of both the Djerma and the Gourmanché peoples make their home in Niamey.

“Possibly Djerma”

NUMBERING AROUND 3 MILLION, the Djerma or Zarma people are an ethnic group predominantly found in westernmost Niger. They are also found in significant numbers in the adjacent areas of Nigeria and Benin, along with smaller numbers in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Sudan. In Niger, the Zarma are often considered by outsiders to be of the same ethnicity as the neighboring Songhaiborai, although the two groups claim differences, having different histories and speaking different dialects. They are sometimes lumped together as the Zarma-Songhay or Songhay-Zarma.

The Zarma people are predominantly Muslims of the Maliki-Sunni school,,and they live in the arid Sahel lands, along the Niger River valley which is a source of irrigation, forage for cattle herds, and drinking water. Relatively prosperous, they own cattle, sheep, goats and dromedaries, renting them out to the Fulani people or Tuareg people for tending. The Zarma people have had a history of slave and caste systems, like many West African ethnic groups. Like them, they also have had a historical tradition of both music and folk tales. The ithe faith shown in God. nfluence of Islam is clear in these stories, seen both in the use of common Islamic greetings and

“Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Blake Robinson”

“SHARING A DEEP AND ABIDING PASSION for Liberia and Sierra Leone, Bill Siegmann acquired a significant number of works from Blake Robinson,” recounts Kevin Dumouchelle. “Robinson was a diplomat and polymath who worked as executive director of the United States Educational and Cultural Foundation in Liberia from 1969 to 1975. He and Bill met in-country” (Grootaers, 2014, 27).

Siegmann acquired more than sixteen hundred objects, a prolific record of applied connoisseurship that is effectively unmatched in the history of the museum’s Africa Pacific collections.

Robinson himself was an inveterate traveler who started flying young, if accidentally, in 1947 on propeller planes as he wrote in a March 15, 2005, New York Times article.

“Later, as a junior grade diplomat, I flew all over Africa as I transferred to different positions,” he recalled. “I acted as a guide for Pearl Bailey on a good will visit to Dakar and made arrangements for gigs by Louis Armstrong in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). The new era of flying arrived for me in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) when I flew on a Caravelle, a twin-engine jet airplane almost as elegant as the French Citro n DS automobile.”

Foreign service officer Robinson and curator Siegmann became lifelong friends after their meeting in Liberia in the 1960s. “In the course of this period, and in the years following, Robinson also developed an important personal collection of artworks from the region— a great many of which were later given to the Brooklyn Museum at Bill’s request” (Grootaers, 2014, 27), Dumouchelle added in a remembrance of Siegmann in Visions from the Forest, the Art of Liberia and the Sierra Leone.

“Copper alloy”

THE PEOPLES OF WESTERN AFRICA have nourished a passion for the warm color of copper, a metal to which they attribute magical powers. Coppers relative malleability also makes it appealing to artisans who work with it, mostly in the form of alloys.

Bronze, essentially a combination of copper and tin, is used because it takes on a patina ranging from black to green depending on the degree of oxidization and the processes employed to treat the surface of he object itself. Yellowish brass, made of copper and zinc, is appealing because it dazzles. Only scientific analysis can prove whether an object is technically bronze or brass. And even though Else Bruyninx tells us “. . .most of the African people use brass and not bronze,’’ we will refer here generically to bronze.

The origin and evolution ofmetal processing techniques are still obscure, especially since copper deposits are scarce north of the Equator. Niger and Mauritania have exploited this precious commodity. According to the accounts of medieval Arab travelers, the trans-Saharan trade brought copper to the peoples of the interior Niger delta in exchange for gold. Terracotta statuettes such as effigies of Bankoni and Segou, and bronze figurines oft hat time attest to either an ostentatious taste for adornment or to a desire to protect the joints of the
body with a multitude of bracelets.