Hand Coil
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Rights signal
CC0
Publication file
599 × 900 px · WebP
Suggested credit
Hand Coil (1800s). Gift of Katherine C. White Rights: CC0. https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.188

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From the museum record

While this looks like a bracelet, it wasn’t worn around a wrist. A chief or titleholder grasped this “hand coil” vertically during the annual Iguẹ festival, during which such men reaffirm their relationship to the Ọba, whose mystical powers are strengthened. An image of a man’s head caps each end of the thick, twisted metal. Repeated human touch rubbed the undecorated lengths bright and shiny. Though small, the coil’s detail is enormous: to capture it, the artist incised the designs in wax during the casting process. They show these men are elites, with necklaces, caps, and whisker-like facial markings.

Lupin’s visual index

A highly detailed bronze axe handle from ancient Assyria showcases intricate carvings of a bird and a stylized warrior's head.

Machine-assisted description · useful for discovery, not scholarship.
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