Bracelet-python, Gan, Burkina Faso

Very good condition overall; wear consistent with age and use within the culture. Small casting flaw to the bottom of the snake. Fine encrusted patina with oxidised green and traces of rich dark bronze showing through underneath. The finely cast decoration softly worn in places.
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Ce bracelet-python relève de la catégorie des bĩgè sĩmba to'yo (« bracelets des entités enroulées »), puissances protectrices des ministres en charge des pratiques funéraires réservées aux membres du groupe dynastique gan.

Le phénomène funéraire occupe une place remarquable au sein de la royauté gan, et les différentes charges associées aux rites de la mort se sont distinguées par l'aspect spectaculaire de leurs objets cultuels. Les bracelets-pythons bĩgè sĩmba to'ro, insignes des 'ìtataapa, ou « petits rois », ministres affectés au trait.mes nt rituel des dépouilles des membres du groupe dynastique, étonnent par la préciosité de leur style recherché. Leur forme évoque le python royal, reptile puissant qui, au sein du système de représentation gan, occupe une place prééminente de par ses rôles de messager des entités surnaturelles, doué du pouvoir de reviviscence, et de médiateur entre les procédures rituelles de la cout.mes ancienne et le panthéon d'entités expressément vénérées pour la sauvegarde du nouveau royaume (dont la fondation remonte à la fin du xvi^e siècle). Par conséquent, en outre de leur fonction de protection contre la souillure de la mort, les bracelets-pythons interviennent dans des rites particulièrement décisifs pour la viabilité du règne puisqu'ils incarnent par excellence la relation entre pouvoir et contre-pouvoir, dont l'origine repose just.mes nt sur l'institution des 'ìtataapa. C'est cette interrelation des pouvoirs qui est exprimée, ici, de façon si habile non seulement dans le rapport de conjonction-opposition entre la tête puissante du reptile et l'enroulement spécifique de la queue (identifiant le python royal), mais aussi par la reprise d'un précieux décor depuis ces extrémités.

Gan python bracelet, Burkina Faso

This python-bracelet falls into the category of bĩgè sĩmba to'yo ('bracelets of encircled  powers'), and it would have acted as a powerful protector to ministers in charge of the funerary practices reserved solely for members of the Gan dynasty.

The funerary phenomenon occupied a remarkably significant place for the royalty of the Gan, and the various changes related to the rites of death were distinguished by the spectacular forms of their objects of worship. Bĩgè sĩmba to'ro python bracelets and other insignia of 'ìtataapa', or 'little kings', were assigned to the ministers who conducted the ritual treatment of the remains of the deceased. They are astounding in the sensitivity of their style. The shape is reminiscent of the royal python, a powerful reptile who occupied a prominent position due to its role as the earthly messenger of supernatural beings, it was endowed with the power of revival, and also believed to have been the mediator between the ancient rituals and the pantheon of associated beings expressly revered for the safeguarding of the new kingdom (which was founded in the late sixteenth century). As a consequence, in addition to their protective function against the defilement of death, python-bracelets are involved in rituals crucial to the viability of the reign. They embody the ultimate relationship between power and anti-power, the origins of this system of belief clearly based on the institution of 'ìtataapa. It is this interrelationship of power which is so skilfully expressed here, not only in the conjunction/opposition between the powerful head of the reptile and the precise winding of the tail (identifying the royal python), but also in the recovery of unusual decoration on the extremities.