Ankle Bracelet “Djokélebalé” or “Nsoukou” – Kota Culture, Gabon, 19th century

Impressive open bronze alloy ankle bracelet, featuring a wide ring decorated with six raised moldings. The oxidized, granular patina attests to its age and ritual use.

These ornaments, often heavy and voluminous, were used as currency and also served as bridewealth. This type of currency-bracelet, known as Djokélebalé or Nsoukou, embodies both the aesthetic and social value of Kota and Mbete productions from Eastern Gabon.

The Kota, established in a region rich in iron ore, entrusted the blacksmith—also a woodcarver—with the manufacture of agricultural tools, ritual weapons, reliquary figures, and ornaments. Copper jewelry, when too large to be worn, functioned as traditional currency and circulated across the equatorial region, from Gabon to Congo-Brazzaville and Cameroon.

A rare ethnographic piece, at once ornament, prestige object, and currency, representative of Kota/Mbete metallurgical artistry from the late 19th – early 20th century.