Marc Léo Félix, ed. WHITE GOLD, BLACK HANDS. IVORY SCULPTURE IN CONGO. A set of eight volumes, Brussels, Congo Basin Art History Research Centre, 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; the subsequent volumes were published in succession. Large quarto format, illustrated publisher’s cardboard covers, each volume bearing the title of the series on the spine. Approximately one thousand colour photographs, drawings, maps and diagrams. A landmark reference work, still unrivalled, 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. The musicologist Ignace De Keyser (MRAC, Tervuren) devotes a study to an ivory trumpet from northern Kongo inspired by an ancient European model, whilst 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. A work printed in a limited edition, now highly sought-after, constituting the definitive reference work for the appraisal and attribution of Congolese ivories. Condition: very good overall condition; complete set of all eight volumes.