Marc Léo Félix, ed. - Lot 33

Marc Léo Félix, ed. WHITE GOLD, BLACK HANDS. IVORY SCULPTURE IN CONGO. A set of eight volumes, Brussels, Congo Basin Art History Research Center, in association with the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren), Ethnic Art & Culture Ltd (Hong Kong) and Tribal Arts SPRL (Brussels), printed by Gemini Sun, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China. Volume I dated May 2010; subsequent volumes published in succession. Large quarto format, illustrated publisher’s cardboard covers, each volume bearing the series title on the spine. Approximately one thousand color photographs, drawings, maps, and charts. A definitive reference work, still without equal, devoted to ritual ivory sculpture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first volume opens with an essay by Charles Meur on the nature of ivory and the identification of the species from which it is sourced, illustrated with his own drawings. Marc Leo Felix, a specialist in the ritual arts of the Congo Basin, details the production and use of ivory sculpture in the Kongo Kingdom between the 16th and 20th centuries. Musicologist Ignace De Keyser (MRAC, Tervuren) devotes a study to a northern Kongo ivory trumpet inspired by an ancient European model, while Nichole N. Bridges (Baltimore Museum of Art) discusses the production of carved tusks from the Loango coast in the 19th century, intended for a Western clientele. This work, printed in a limited edition and now highly sought after, serves as the definitive reference for the appraisal and attribution of Congolese ivory. Condition: very good overall condition; complete set of all eight volumes.