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AT LARGE OBJET TROUVÉ
QUALITY TIME
TRADE BEADS
GirardPerregaux Opera One sapphire dial The Swiss watch industry lost two of its greatest names last year — Nicolas Hayek of the Swatch Group aged 82 and, perhaps lesser known but a prominent figure nonetheless, 62-year-old Luigi Macaluso, chairman of the Sowind Group made up of Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard watches. Girard-Perregaux as a company dates back to 1791 and ranks alongside other legendary high-end Swiss manufactures such as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. It had passed through the hands of several great watch-making family dynasties in its time, before falling into the capable hands of Italian entrepreneur Macaluso in 1992. His two sons, Stefano and Massimo, have since taken the helm. This particular model is an iteration of an existing Opera One design that won plaudits for its highly complex genetic make up, much of which is left pleasingly exposed via a glass dial. Here we see the dial in a tinted sapphire glass version with sunburst pattern radiating outwards from the exposed tourbillon complication located at six o’clock. Tourbillons are hugely intricate pieces of craftsmanship that counteract the effects of gravity on a watch movement, making the timepiece both more
accurate and more desirable, especially for connoisseurs. The fun doesn’t end there either. This Opera One packs in a second complication in the form of a minute repeater with a Westminster chime. Look closely enough and you can pick out the four tiny hammers at nine o’clock that play a melody of four different notes on the hour. A chime function was originally used to alert the wearer to the time after nightfall when candlelight was in short supply. A Westminster chime in a contemporary watch, therefore, turns what was once an entirely practical invention into one of pure whimsy. For jaded urbanites and aficionados alike, it is a delightful injection of horological dexterity that will likely
draw smiles of admiration wherever it goes. A manually wound Girard-Perregaux GP9899 internal movement has a mighty 75-hour power reserve housed in a precious 40mm white gold case which, when combined with the tourbillon and Westminster chime, explains the reassuringly expensive price tag. MATT MORLEY
Retail price: from R5 100 000 Movement: GirardPerregaux GP9899 Case: white gold, 40mm in diameter Features: Tourbillon, minute repeater with Westminster chime Stockists: Emanuels Jewellers, (011) 784 1337; Cherry Design, (031) 566 5665
Why trade beads? Because they are beautiful, and were the very cornerstone of trade to Africa from Europe and the Middle East until the early 20th century. Beads show that Africa has been linked to the rest of the world for much longer than is often presumed. It is not the dark continent of Victorian imagining, an idea which still holds sway, and it has never been because of a vastly complex network of trade routes going back into ancient history. The first gold coin minted in England used gold that had been mined in Mali, for instance. Thirteenth-century Chinese porcelain has been discovered in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. Beads symbolise this trade. Beads matter because a single bead, such as the 16th-century Venetian chevron, was once worth the life of a slave. Beads were both an international token of exchange and a central source of ornamentation in Africa. Beads have thus been a key factor in the formation of African identity. Objects survive human beings, gathering layers of meaning over time. This is particularly true of European trade beads, which have become African in Africa, picking up mythologies and individual personalities entirely independent of their European origins. They contain the lives of people, and they can be read as histories. In the first of my columns for 2011, I will demonstrate their significance. W. pulled the beads out of a beaten-up Spar bag in his downtown Johannesburg storeroom, grilles running across the dirty windows so the light fell on the floor in diamond-shaped patterns, some beads shining and some mute in mounds on the floor. He’d pulled out several strands from other bags before he’d revealed these ones. “Lovely,” I’d murmured at the others, “lovely,” but now I drew in my breath and suffered that multitude of conflicting emotions collectors are fated to experience when they recognise something they know as beautiful and rare and now necessary to their lives. I knew what this was, I knew I couldn’t afford it, but I also realised that I had to have it. There were people outside shouting on the pavement, the roar of traffic seemed louder, the white light on the dusty floor grew brighter and W. witnessed this panicked excitement. He must have seen this look on many a collector’s face over the 40 years he has dealt in beads, a look that means a sale. Some are better at hiding it, but still their fingers shake, and I have no control over my enthusiasm.
INVITATION
VALENTINE’S DAY DINNER Join Wanted and Hyde Park Shopping for an über-deluxe Valentine’s Experience. Guests will be romanced with chilled Möet & Chandon on arrival, a gourmet dinner with a difference and a selection of wines from Southern Right. WHEN Monday February 14, 2011 WHERE Life Grande Café, Hyde Park Shopping WEAR Black Tie Glam with a twist! TIME 19h30 TICKETS R350, include Champagne on arrival, three-course dinner, wines, a goody bag and opportunity to win a fabulous shopping experience, as well as a night for two in the Southern Sun Hyde Park Hotel and Möet & Chandon gift pack. TO BOOK email zebrasquare@global.co.za or call (011) 784 8112
“Kiffa beads,” I half-whispered, taking them in my outstretched hands, running them through my fingers. “But W. where did you get these?” He laughed, a kind man who has loved these things for longer than I. “They are hard to come by,” he replied simply. These beads are unique and fundamental to Mauritanian culture and society, and they are also distinctly African: formed out of crushed European trade beads and thus given a new significance. They were made in small numbers, on commission, for friends and family members or for personal use. The craft of making these beads was considered to be a gift from God and the beads were made in his praise. Every line, dot, circle and triangle mirrored the beadmaker’s personal interpretation of the universe. Magic to encourage happiness and good fortune was incorporated and infused into the process of making a bead. Mauritanian women strongly believed in the magic of these beads, which offered them powerful protection from the “evil eye”, illness and other mishaps. They also considered their beads to be objects that transmitted emotions. Special beads were given names, and their wearers believed that to place such a bead under one’s tongue was the most effective method of passing on its magic to one’s body. The blue pendants represent cowrie shells and thus fertility; the pattern of tortoise shells is seen in the round beads. To make these beads, which date back to the 19th century, glass from trade beads is crushed into a fine powder and mixed with a binder. To build a core for the triangular pendant beads, two blades of stiff glass are fastened together to form a cross shape. The moistened crushed glass is built up around this support and smoothed with a razor blade. Decorative patterns are applied with fine needles using a slurry of finely crushed blue, red, yellow, white and black glass, moistened with saliva or a few drops of gum arabic mixed with water. The beads are then re-fired. A collection like this is almost impossible to find now. “How much?” I asked, but he laughed again and said, “Have a look at these,” passing me another magnificent string of beads, which again stopped the world … JAMES GREEN
FEBRUARY 2011, WANTED 51