Antique Tuareg ( Sahel region ) silver with carnelian agate Ring "tisek" .

Antique Tuareg ( Sahel region ) silver with carnelian agate Ring "tisek" .

Late 19th century.

Provenance:

Gérald Minkoff (1937-2009) and Muriel Olesen (1948-2020), Geneva.

Measure: 5.5 cm H

Size 10

TISEK ring with traditional geometric engravings, according to Tuareg culture and belief, carnelian aids in wound healing and also protects against the evil eye, rings were gifts given by women and men as a symbol of love and fidelity.

In many parts of Africa, these masterfully crafted precious items are valued for their beauty, but above all, the valuable ornaments are also part of religious beliefs. They are therefore testaments to the wearer's affiliation, rank, and faith.

Furthermore, healers prescribe the wearing of protective jewelry for healing or to ward off misfortune. These precious items were thus also worn as magical, protective, and empowering objects.

🔹Gérald Minkoff and Muriel Olesen🔹

Muriel Minkoff-Olesen (1948-2020) completed her studies at the Geneva School of Design. Gérald Minkoff (1937-2009) was a trained anthropologist and biologist.

Both achieved renown as artists, and from their meeting in 1967, the iconic pair of contemporary art became inseparable. The travel-loving duo Olesen-Minkoff explored life like curious nomads, roaming the globe from Africa to Asia, Oceania, and the Americas to Patagonia.

As artists and experienced collectors of contemporary art, they understandably also had a keen sensitivity to the aesthetics and concepts of non-European art.

The couple's Geneva apartment, perhaps their most beautiful collaborative work, thus became a place where the works of close friends such as Daniel Spoerri, Arman and Man Ray, as well as their own photographs, coexisted with almost a thousand objects from Africa, Oceania, Asia and South America.