Tribal Art

Miniature in silver and bronze alloy depicting a rider on his mount, which represents an exceptional attribute of prestige in the arid regions of the Sahel. This talisman constitutes, for the Sao, a protection against madness. The rider symbolizes the genius who possesses the madman, the horse representing the victim.
Between the 12th and 14th centuries, the Sao, ancestors of the Kotoko, were established on hills in the border regions of Chad, northern Cameroon and Nigeria, in order to repel invaders. Subjected to successive attacks from their neighbors in Kanem and then to hordes from the East, the Sao had to abandon their lands to settle in the North-West of Cameroon where they mixed with the natives, thus giving birth to the Kotokos. The Kotoko still attribute today to the ...

African Ci Wara crest mask of the Bambara, Bamana, chiselled with motifs representing the coat of a male antelope, "ci wara" or "wild animal of the earth".
Medium brown, velvety patina. Resin residues. Desication cracks.
Established in central and southern Mali, the Bambara, "Bamana" or "unbelievers", as the Muslims have called them, belong to the large Mande group, like the Soninke and the Malinke. Sculpted by the blacksmith numu, who also plays the role of diviner and healer, this crest embodies the animal - genius Ciwara who is said to have taught the Bambara to cultivate the land. Worn at the top of the skull and held in place by a basketry hat, these crests accompanied the dancers during the rituals of the tòn, an association dedicated to agricultural work. The masks ...

Rare sculpture-altar, or clan totem, large, embodying the rooster, spirit of the bush and sacrificial animal also symbolizing combativeness. The light wood is painted with polychrome motifs. Matte patina, abrasions and desication cracks. The African masks and sculptures of the Bobo, Bwa, Kurumba and Mossi, living in Burkina Faso, frequently take up and combine stylized elements borrowed from men, animals or even insects. It is the spirits of nature who are believed to determine an individual's well-being and prosperity, and adversity will be seen as the result of neglect of collective rituals. It is therefore during different celebrations that the mask will personify a spirit of nature or that of an ancestor in order to influence the daily lives of members of the ethnic group. They appear ...

Sporting an emaciated double face surmounting a long neck, this sculpture of a female bust with folded arms, erect and surrounded by cords, offers a double chest which constitutes its base. Various elements have been added: vegetable fiber cords, glass bead buckles, black metal ornaments. Losses, erosions and cracks from use.
br>"Mani" is a diminutive meaning "little person" which qualifies the human-faced African puppets used by the Bambara and Markha during didactic shows. This tradition of puppet theater is common to the multi-ethnic peoples living in the interior delta of the Niger, including the Bozo, in particular in the region of Ségou where it is called "sogobo". The Markha, also called Warka, live in the north of Bambara territory and have therefore been influenced by ...

This mask surmounted by a high flat and curved blade is one of the many stylistic variations of Dogon masks. Yellow ocher patina, colored highlights. Desication rings and cracks.
More than eighty types of African masks are listed among the Dogon, the best known of which are the Kanaga, Sirigé, Satimbé, Walu. Most of them are used by circumcised initiates of the Awa society, during funeral ceremonies. The Awa designates the masks, their costumes, and all the Dogons in the service of the masks. Some evoke animals, in reference to the rich cosmogony and mythology of African Dogon art. The "nyama", the mask's vital force, is activated by various rituals in order to develop the object's full magical potential.

Collection of African Belgian art.
This African mask was used during the tribal ritual of the Elanda male society. Mask embodying the god Alunga, this panel structure has double orbits and a diamond-shaped mouth. Evocation of a spirit of the forest, this mask was kept in the sacred caves. They appeared in various guises during the Bwami circumcision and initiation ceremonies.
Matte patina, ocher beige kaolin residue, bluish highlights.
Desication cracks, native restoration.
The Bembe ethnic group is a Luba branch that left the Congo in the 18th century. Their society and artistic tendency are marked by the influence of their neighbors in the Lake Tanganyika region, the Lega, the Buyu, etc. Indeed, like the Lega, the Bembe had a bwami association responsible for ...

Witnesses to the traditions of the Hopi Indian peoples of Arizona, the sculpted Katsinam (sing. Kachina) objects are expressed during traditional dances accompanying the annual festivals in favor of the rain. Traditional Kachina dolls are, for the Amerindian Pueblo group (Hopi, Zuni, Tewa Village, Acoma Pueblo and Laguna Pueblo), educational tools offered to children at the end of ritual celebrations. These statuettes, embodying a great diversity of spirits, represent the katchina dancers and the colors are associated with the cardinal points.
The patina is matte and velvety, minor abrasions, restoration on one foot.

African mask anthropozoomorphic, offering a powerful physiognomy. The mouth would evoke "the suction" of knowledge. The patina of use, oily, filmy, is imprinted with grainy areas. Cracks, slight chipping on one horn.
Established in central and southern Mali, in a savannah zone, the Bambara, "Bamana" or "unbelievers", belong to the large Mande group, with the Soninke and the Malinke. Groups of Bambara artisans nyamakala and blacksmiths named numu are in charge of carving ritual objects, endowed with the nyama. Six male associations, the Dyow, using Bambara masks, structure the Bambara community: young people first enter the circumcision society n'tomo, then comes that of the komo, the nama, the kono, the koré and finally the agrarian society Tyi Wara

Wooden animal form, coated with a thick cracked crusty patina.br>
Carved for the most part on order placed by a family, the Dogon tribal statues can also be the object of worship on the part of the whole community when they commemorate, for example, the foundation of the village. These statues, sometimes embodying the nyama of the deceased, are placed on altars of ancestors and take part in various rituals, including those of the sowing and harvesting periods. However, their functions remain little known. Alongside Islam, Dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the Lébé, relating to fertility, under the spiritual authority of the Hogon, the Wagem, ancestor worship under the authority of the patriarch, the Binou invoking the spirit world and led by the priest ...

Sculpted subject frozen in a rare tilting movement protruding the buttocks, the head slightly oriented towards the side of the arm whose hand grasps the phallus. The body and face of the ancestor are incised with scarifications. The dry, furrowed surface is imprinted with various traces of libations. Deep erosions, cracks.
Sculpted for the most part on order placed by a family, the Dogon statues can also be the object of worship on the part of the whole community. However, their functions remain little known. Alongside Islam, Dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the Lébé, relating to fertility, under the spiritual authority of the Hogon, the Wagem, ancestor worship under the authority of the patriarch, the Binou invoking the spirit world and led by the priest ...

Rare and old fang type mask, the center of which is coated with a pink ocher tint. Intended to unmask sorcerers, this type of African mask was carved on the eve of ceremonies. The austere physiognomy was meant to counter occult powers. Accompanied by words, gestures, dances and sacrifices, it also intervened during initiations out of sight of the profane. Matte grainy patina. Abrasions, cracks.
Among the Fang, established in a region extending from Yaoundé in Cameroon to Ogooué in Gabon, the appearance of these masks generally coated with kaolin (the white color evokes the power of the ancestors), in the middle of the night, could cause dread. This type of mask was used by the ngil religious and judicial male society which no longer exists today. This secret society was in charge ...

The nose pierced with a labret, the face framed by the broad sides of the headdress, this female figure offers a columnar bust enlivened by stretched arms with protruding elbows. The columnar bust on which the breasts and umbilicus point flares out towards the blocks of the feetless legs.
Velvety nuanced brown patina, desiccation cracks.
The statuary emanating from the northwestern region of the middle Benoué, from the Kona Jukun, to the Mumuye and up to the Wurkun populations is distinguished by a relative absence of ornamentation and a refined stylization. The 100,000 Adamawa language speakers form a group called Mumuye and are grouped into villages, dola, divided into two groups: those of fire (tjokwa) relating to blood and the color red, guardians of the Vabong cult, ...

Seated, the naked subject presents scarified body motifs, a hairstyle composed of braids assembled in shells. He brings his hand to the breast, in a gesture relating to fertility, the second touches his thigh. Black greasy patina, encrusted residues of kaolin, lacks.
Gifts of women, food, festive ceremonies, and honorable status once rewarded dan carvers who were granted this talent during a dream. The latter was the means of communication of Du, invisible spiritual power, with men. Statuary, rare, had a prestigious role with its owner. These are mainly effigies of wives, lü mä, wooden human beings. These are not incarnations of spirits or effigies of ancestors, but prestige figures representing living people, often commissioned by the chiefs, whose names the statues will bear. ...

Uncommon version of the "Kpélié" or "jumping mask", worn during initiations symbolically marking a death followed by a rebirth. The side growths and horns are present, however it is a reference to the hornbill that appears at the top. The pointed lower lip suggests the presence of a labret. Locally grainy matte patina, beige brown, cracking. Height on base: 73 cm.
The African Sénufo masks are worn by male members of the Poro society, an institution that controls political and economic life. Kept in the sacred enclosure named sezang in order to hide them from the gaze of the uninitiated, their function is to honor the elders or even appear at funerals. Anthropomorphic masks would primarily chase the spirit of the deceased from its place of residence. Named “wife of the Dô” by ...

The Binji are a small people from the Bushoong branch, established in the east of the former Kuba kingdom. A regional version of the Bwoom mask, its swollen cheeks indicate that it embodies an outgoing or violent character, appearing mainly during initiation ceremonies and funerals. Crusty dark brown patina, locally flaking, desiccation cracks.
More than twenty types of masks are used among the Kuba, with meanings and functions that vary from group to group. Three types of masks have been associated with dances that take place in the royal enclosure: the first, called Moshambwooy, represents Woot, the founder of the Bushoong, the culture hero. The second, known as Nady Amwaash (Ngaady Un Mwash), plays Woot's wife/sister, a character said to have been introduced for the sake of ...

Named boli ( pl. boliw ), buffalo, in African art, this fetish of variable size plays a major role in the ritual life of the Mandinka region . There are pocket "Boliw", others belong to chiefdoms, initiation societies, such as the male initiation associations Kono and Komo whose members progress through a process spanning several decades, and even to states.
Used as altars or performed during dance performances, they are designed from revelations granted to the spirits of the bush and transmitted to the diviners, using active amalgams coming from nature and, or organic: daliluw. These materials are aggregated around an inner frame of bamboo wrapped in a white cotton cloth, then coated with layers of mud and clay, and on their surfaces accumulate over time sacrificial ...

This mask offers elements reminiscent of the traditional sculpture of the Lula's close neighbors: Nkanu, Holo, Zombo, and Yaka. Like these groups, they make use of colored pigments. The face sculpted in relief is surrounded by a flat part giving the whole the appearance of a shield, from which two forms stand out: the upper part of the face with strong jowls, and a mouth like that of a skeleton.

Crusty matte patina. Abrasions.


This ethnic group close to the Yaka is settled along the Nséki River in the south-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Lula live in small autonomous villages, hunting and fishing.
We notice on their sculptures scarifications close to those of the Téké while the headdresses and the general morphology of the ...

Ex-collection French African tribal art
Intended to unmask sorcerers, this helmet mask, of the Fang Ngil type, bleached with kaolin, which was sculpted on the eve of ceremonies, reflects the desire to capture the mysteries of the night and to intimidate opposing forces. Accompanied by words, gestures, dances and sacrifices, this type of African mask also intervened during initiations out of sight of the profane. Matte patina, erosions and losses.
This type of mask was used by the ngil male society which no longer exists today. This secret society was in charge of initiations and fought against witchcraft. Guarantor of peace, the ngil also fixed the seasons, the location where the villages were to be established, and the conditions for the exploitation of agricultural ...