Tribal Art

Among the traditional sculptures reserved for dignitaries , this eroded seat that a figure embodying a clan ancestor or mythical hero supports. The statuette evokes the Songye and Hemba statues. Particularity of the Kusu, the face extending with a triangular beard.
Velvety surface.
Desiccation crack.
The Kusu settled on the left bank of the Lualaba have indeed borrowed the artistic traditions of the Luba and Hemba and possess a caste system similar to that of the Luba .  The Hemba on the other hand have settled in southeastern Zaire on the right bank of the Lualaba River. Once under the domination of the Luba , these farmers and hunters practice ancestor worship by means of effigies long attributed to the Luba. In this region, between the Bembe, Boyo, Hemba, ...

Old stool seat evoking the mythical arch of the Dogon creation. A metal staple consolidates the structure. The decoration of the blanks presents subjects associated with the Nommos ancestors. Velvety matte patina, abrasions and desication cracks.
According to the Dogon cosmogony, the first primordial ancestors of Dogon, called Nommo, were the bisexual water gods. They were created in heaven by the creator god Amma and descended from heaven to earth in an ark.
The Nommo is said to have founded the eight lineages of Dogon and instilled weaving, the art of blacksmithing, and the agriculture to their human descendants.
Ref. : "Dogon" H. Leloup, ed. Quai Branly Museum.

This bed consists of a concave board established on four legs, a sculpted neck support acting as a pillow. The effigy in the round adorning the head of the bed probably represents the tribal chief Chibinda Ilunga, hunter and mythical hero, founder of the Chokwé ethnic group, wearing the cipenya-mutwe, the objects being decorated of this figure having a protective function. The contours are inlaid with upholstery nails.
Brown patina encrusted with ochre.
Native restorations. Desication erosions and cracks.
Peacefully settled in eastern Angola until the 16th century, the Chokwé were then subjected to the Lunda empire from which they inherited a new hierarchical system and the sacredness of power. Nevertheless, the Chokwé never fully adopted these new social and ...

Makonde four-legged stool-seat.
Within the equatorial regions of Central Africa, the craftsmen and artists are the "Mapuundi". The latter mainly carve ebony, in which they fashion prestigious seats that could be transformed into a chief enthronement support, or more modest, depending on the social rank of each. This seat was carved in a light wood. The seat is slightly concave, the elegant half-moon legs. The decoration consists of circle patterns. Beautiful golden beige and gray patina. Desication cracks, erosions. According to: " Black African seats from the Barbier-Mueller museum " ed. 5Continents.

Located in the border region of Nigeria, the northwestern province of Cameroon, the Grassland is made up of several ethnic groups: Tikar, Anyang, Widekum, Chamba, Bamoun and Bamileke. Several centralized chiefdoms, or kingdoms, based on customary associations, secret societies, are organized around the Fon which has broad powers. Among The Bamilékés of Sudano-Bantous origin as well as in other ethnic groups, the art objects attested to the place of their owner in society. The seats, whose ornamentation varied according to social status, were carved for routine use or for meetings of the Customary Societies. Each of the Cameroonian kingdoms produces an art linked to the royal prestige of the Fon consisting of regal, various weapons and cult sculptures, this treasure being kept in a box ...

Prestigious sculptures in African art. An African figure sports a Shankadi-like hairstyle. The subject would form the "receptacle of a deceased sovereign leader" (Luba, Roberts). The prominent scarifications converging towards the umbilicus, "center of the world" associated with the lineage, testify to notions of fertility. This miniature stool named lupona , or kioni ,kipona , kiona , depending on the source, constitutes the meeting point of the sovereign, his people, and protective spirits and ancestors, where past and present mingle symbolically and spiritually. It once formed the seat on which the king was enthroned. The seats were arranged on leopard skins during the investiture of the new leader. Only after sitting there did his speech take on a royal and divine character. Apart ...

The caryatid "receptacle of a deceased sovereign chief" (Luba, Roberts) supporting the top of this stool named lupona, or kioni or kipona, kiona, affirms the political role and spirituality of women in Luba society. This seat once formed the seat on which King mulopwe was enthroned. The seats were arranged on leopard skins during the investiture of the new leader. Only after sitting there did his speech take on a royal and divine character. Apart from these exceptional circumstances, the seats were not used and remained stored in undisclosed locations. Gray brown patina, erosions and losses.
The cradle of the Luba (Baluba in Chiluba) is Katanga, more precisely the region of the Lubu River. They were born of a secession from the Songhoy ethnic group. In the 16th century they created ...

Assembly of logs with tenons for this rectangular seat whose figurative motifs refer to the statues ntadep, tadep.
Polychrome patina, cracks.
Despite their small number, the thirty thousand Mambila (or Mambila, Mambere, Nor, Torbi, Lagubi, Tagbo, Tongbo, Bang, Ble, Juli, Bea)(the "men", in Fulani), settled in the northwest of Cameroon, created a large number of masks and statues easily identified by their heart-shaped faces. Although the Mambila believe in a creator god named Chang or Nama, they only worship their ancestors. Their leaders were buried in granaries like wheat as they were believed to symbolize prosperity. Masks and statues were not to be seen by women.

Very low to allow women to be at the height of the fire to prepare meals, this stool has a curved rectangular seat, luster by use. Supported by four massive feet, it is adorned with a head and the posterior face of a body sculpted under the seat. Fault on one foot that does not threaten the stability of the object. Golden brown patina.
The Upper Volta, Burkina Faso since independence, is composed of the descendants of the invaders, horsemen who came from Ghana in the 15th century, named Nakomse, and Tengabibisi, descendants of the natives. Political power is in the hands of the Nakomsé, who assert their power through statues, while priests and religious leaders come from the Tengabisi, who use masks during their ceremonies. Animists, the Mossi worship a god who created Wendé. Each ...

Sacrality of the sculpted seats, prestige regalia, in primitive African art .
A female figure supporting the circular plate of a seat, forms the "receptacle of a deceased sovereign chief" (Luba, Roberts). This stool named lupona , or kioni, kipona , kiona , according to the sources, constitutes the meeting point of the sovereign, his people, and protective spirits and ancestors, where past and present are symbolically and spiritually mingled. It was once the seat on which the king was enthroned. The seats were arranged on leopard skins when the new leader was inaugurated. It was only after being seated there that his address assumed a royal and divine character. Apart from these exceptional circumstances, the seats were not used and remained stored in secret places. ...

Mangbetu African art, a prestigious art, was intended for the elite of society, such as this articulated chair whose studs are carved with anthropomorphic figures and faces. The seat, attached to the wood by a tapestry nail but from which it stands out on the upper left corner, is animal skin and has been restored. The brown patina is abraded locally, updating a light wood.
In the forest in northeastern Zaire, the Mangbetu kingdom has expressed itself through architectural works that impressed European visitors in the 19th century. Their furniture, weapons, adornments and statuary were imbued with a rare aesthetic quality. The Mangbetu story was based on the refinement of his court but also on cannibalistic customs. King Mangbetu Munza was so dubbed The cannibal king. The ...

These wooden horns, once ivory elephant tusks, framed the throne on which the king sat during his weekly meetings with the people. Beaded, open sections, or sculpted with relief decorative motifs follow one another on the ensemble. Figures of buffalo heads, lizards or caimans, and royal effigies and dignitaries refer to the hierarchy of bamoun and bamileke society and to the prestige and wealth of the region. Zoomorphic figures are associated with the divination, power and qualities expected of the sovereign.
Lustrous mingable, fine desication cracks.
Situated in the border region of Nigeria, the northwestern province of Cameroon , the Grassland is made up of several ethnic groups: Tikar, Anyang, Widekum, Chamba, Bamoun and Bamileke. Several centralized chiefdoms, or ...

This chair, or throne, on three legs, with a female figure forming the backrest, materializes a concept of fecundity and lineage. The hollowed out eyes were usually encrusted with white pearls. The size of the ears contrasts with a classical physiognomy. Shaded, veined patina. Abrasions.
The Nyamwezi , Nyamezi , form the largest group among the tribes living in north central Tanzania. Coming from diverse origins, although sharing similar cultural specificities, their ritual and artistic production consequently presents very different formal aspects. The cult of ancestors and chiefs, of major importance within their culture, has left its mark on their statuary. The Sukuma and Nyamezi produced statues represented in a static position, some of which, with their filiform limbs, ...

Among the elements of African furniture for daily use, a mossi stool from the Ivory Coast, whose circular seat is supported by five diamond-shaped legs. This type of stool for individual use, often carved in shea wood, marked the social rank of its owner and was not suitable in any way. Patina of use, desication cracks, erosions.
The Mossi are a people originating from Burkina Faso as well as the bordering regions of surrounding countries. More than five million people consider themselves Mossi, membership in this ethnic community being based on the practice of moré and on the practice of a certain number of traditions. In the 15th and 16th centuries, they constituted great kingdoms, the two main ones of which (Yatenga and Ouagadougou) remained independent until European ...

In the south-west of the Congo, and in Angola and Zambia, each chief had a seat whose foot consisted of a female caryatid, an image of fecundity, fertility, and filiation. matrilineal. However, it is a kifwebe mask which replaces the caryatid here. This type of seat could also serve as a pedestal for Songye mankishi (sing. nkishi) fetishes. The seat here is concave. These seats were sometimes charged with a bishimba at the level of the head, the umbilicus or in the base.
Golden beige satin patina. Cracks and slight losses.
The Songye came from the Shaba region in the DRC and settled between the Lualaba River and the Sankuru River in the middle of savannah and forests. They are governed by the yakitenge and by local chiefs. The Bwadi secret society, however, counterbalances ...

Prestigious seat of Chokwe or related groups of Lunda origin carved in monoxyl wood. This African seat illustrates wealth and power through the central figure of the Chihongo dancer, wearing the royal winged headdress. Minor figures form the uprights. Abraded matte patina, desiccation cracks.
Peacefully settled in eastern Angola until the 16th century, the Chokwé were then subjected to the Lunda empire from which they inherited a new hierarchical system and the sacredness of power. Nevertheless, the Chokwé never fully adopted these new social and political contributions. Three centuries later, they ended up seizing the capital of the Lunda weakened by internal conflicts, thus contributing to the dismantling of the kingdom. The Chokwé did not have centralized power but large ...

Mangbetu, the African tribal art of prestige, was intended for the elite of society, such as this chair surmounted by a head with mangbetu characteristics. The circular seat is slightly concave, while the slightly curved back has remnants of motifs evoking the traditional tattoos of the tribe. Similar to those of the Asua pygmies with whom the tribe had relations, they varied according to the circumstances. The Mangbetu kingdom has been expressed through architectural works that impressed European visitors in the 19th century, a patina of use, luster, golden brown, cracks and abrasions.br>abli in the forest in the north-east of Zaire. Their furniture, weapons, adornments and statuary were imbued with a rare aesthetic quality. The Mangbetu story was based on the refinement of his court but ...

French tribal art collection.
Supported by a female figure representing Tiyambo, this large circular tray, in the African tradition of caryatid sculptures, can indeed serve as a seat or even a small pedestal table. It is embellished with a polychrome and matte patina. Desication cracks.
Mixed with the Nalu and the Landuman, the Baga live along the coasts of Guinea-Bissau in areas of swamps that are flooded six months a year. These Baga groups settled on the coast and living from rice growing are made up of seven sub-groups, including the Baga Kalum, Bulongic, Baga sitem, Baga Mandori, etc... They believe in a creator god called Nagu, Naku, that they do not represent. After the abandonment of the rites following Islamization, colonization, or conversions to Christianity, the Baga ...

Monoxyl piece in carved wood covered with a fabric of rabane sewn with pearls and cowries, symbolizing wealth. The juxtaposed colors enhance the volumes and figurative motifs associated with chieftaincy and its myths.

Located in the border region of Nigeria, the North West Province of Cameroon, Grassland is made up of several ethnic groups: Tikar, Anyang, Widekum, Chamba, Bamoun, or Bamum and Bamileke. Several centralized chiefdoms, or kingdoms, based on customary associations, secret societies, are organized around the Fon which has broad powers. Among the Bamilekes of Sudano-Bantu origin, as in other ethnic groups, art objects testified to their owner's place in society. The seats, the ornamentation of which varied according to social status, were carved for current ...

Monoxyl piece in carved wood covered with a fabric of rabane sewn with pearls and cowries, symbolizing wealth. The juxtaposed colors enhance the volumes and patterns, associated with chieftaincy.
A basic structure is carved in wood and then covered, above a canvas of rabane, with a lattice of imported pearls and cowry shells whose colors correspond to the different chiefdoms.

Located in the border region of Nigeria, the North West Province of Cameroon, Grassland is made up of several ethnic groups: Tikar, Anyang, Widekum, Chamba, Bamoun, or Bamum and Bamileke. Several centralized chiefdoms, or kingdoms, based on customary associations, secret societies, are organized around the Fon which has broad powers. Among the Bamilekes of Sudano-Bantu origin, as in other ...

In African art, the Bamiléké demonstrate their know-how through the use of multicolored beads.
This monoxyl seat, named rü mfo among the Bamum, Kuo koko for the Bamileke, presents human figurative motifs, associated with the chiefdom. A basic structure is carved in wood to then be covered, above a canvas of rabane, with a lattice of imported pearls and cowries, an old currency associated with wealth.
Lower zone unglued. < br />
Located in the border region of Nigeria, the North West Province of Cameroon, Grassland is made up of several ethnic groups: Tikar, Anyang, Widekum, Chamba, Bamoun, or Bamum and Bamileke. Several centralized chiefdoms, or kingdoms, based on customary associations, secret societies, are organized around the Fon which has broad ...