French market vocabulary· French
Usure rituelle
In English use: Ritual wear
Ritual wear — the irreplaceable hallmark of an object that lived inside its socio-religious context.
An absolute marker of expertise. An object that shows no marques d'usage (use traces) or marques du temps (time traces) was almost certainly never used in an authentic socio-religious setting. Such pieces — often carved directly for the colonial export market or for the modern tourist trade — are, in the strict categorisation of Arts Premiers, of little serious interest.
The French art-historical tradition then differentiates the type of wear with microscopic precision — see usure de préhension, usure de portage, and marques d'utilisation internes.