Sugar Hammer - Tuareg - Gazelle Head, Early 20th Century - No. 2

Copper - patina and wear, micro shocks from use. This hammer is symbolic of the importance of tea in the Tuareg culture. This drink is in fact consumed eight to nine times a day, its traditional preparation requiring sugar acquired in the form of a long cone or "sugar loaf". In 1934, Georges Henri-Rivière, from the Trocadéro Museum of Ethnography, was in charge of the "Sahara" exhibition. This major international exhibition presented prehistoric, geological, zoological and ethnographic collections. Some sugar loaves and sugar hammers and tongs were exhibited (see photos at the end of the slideshow). - As for the particular iconography of the gazelle head; the Quai Branly Museum holds a copy (before 1938) given to the Aït Youssi culture, Morocco - Middle Atlas. See photos at the end of the slideshow.