Tribal Art

Ex Belgian tribal art collection.

This pair of bembe statues impresses by its dimensions. It is about a couple. The man holds a knife and a miniature head covered with kaolin while the woman holds a child on her arm, also covered with kaolin.
Both large figures have a relatively crusty reddish patina. Both wear black ornaments, such as bracelets. They wear a hemispherical headdress topped with a white growth.
The features of the faces are also demarcated from the patina using black pigment, as are the genitals. Bembe statuary has the particularity of highlighting the genitals, especially the male ones, sometimes in surrealist proportions.

The Bembe ethnic group is a Luba branch that left the Congo in the 18th century. Their society and artistic tendencies ...

The African art of the cult of Byeri is illustrated by various anthropomorphic sculptures acting as 'guardians' and embodying the ancestor. The boxes containing the relics of illustrious ancestors were kept by the oldest man in the village, the esa. Surmounted by a statue or head that acted as the guardian of the 'byeri' boxes, they were stored in a dark corner of the box, supposed to divert evil influences to someone else. They were also used during the initiation ceremonies of young people linked to society. So, so. During the holidays, the statues were separated from their boxes and paraded. Pre-events were carried out on some statues for therapeutic purposes.
This statuette intended to be boxed in a basket-reliquaire by the posterior peduncle, has a prognathic machoîre in which ...

Ex-collection Belgian tribal art.
Rather than an icon extolling fertility, this Akan African art sculpture was a medium of divination for the medium. This feminine effigy with a high conical chest and tubular umbilical is described in rounded volumes that respond with great harmony and perfect symmetry. Dark, oiled and lustrous patina, revealing the veining of a light wood. Kaolin-encrusted residue on the face. Desication crack and traces of xylophages. The Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva has a comparable copy. Acquired by Guy Mercier, consultant for the Solvay Group, who began to collect a vast collection of African tribal art at the beginning of the 20th century. While radiating in West and Central Africa as part of his work, and collecting in-situ works, the majority of his ...

Reliquary sculpture devoid of crescent crest usually accompanying this type of pieces. Two broad ears frame a flat face where the bulging forehead is surmounted by an outgrowth. The piece alternates with gold veneers and highlights of orange copper wire, while the neck is wrapped in a large sheet of black metal. Restorations using long staples were carried out on the damaged foot.
Among the shira-punu group, Les Massango , Mashango , Sango, Sangu, settled on the Chaillu massif in Gabon and in the province of Ngounié. The use of the bone baskets of the deceased, on which sculptures of this type reigned, was widespread throughout Gabon, ches the Fang, the Kota, but also the Mitsogho and Massango , in which this cult takes the name of Bumba. The sculptures playing the role of "medium" ...

Slightly curved plateau topped by a miniature protective figure supposed to embody an ancestor communicating with the guardian spirits, "mvidye", intermediate between the spiritual world and individuals, and also able to embody the spirits of nature among the Luba of Kasai. The motifs engraved on the tray are linked to a mnemonic proverb or code associated with the myths, origins and precepts of Luba royalty. This object allowed followers of the Mbudye to transmit during codified rituals, through stories and songs, the genealogy of the founding heroes, the history of the clan's migrations, etc.
Light Brown Velvety Matte. Height on pedestal: 45 cm
Shest the Luba, the king, mulopwe, occupied the highest place of a complex command system. He partially delegated his powers to ...

With large circular ears forming one of the specificities of East African statuary, this asexual figure is depicted in a frontal psoition, legs spread from the width of the pelvis, hands positioned on the bust surmontanty a slightly swollen abdomen. The hollowed-out pupils had to be encrusted with beads in the past. Locally abraded brown skate.
This type of sculpture comes from the northeastern region of Tanzania, bordering Kenya, facing the Indian Ocean, where the Paré, Shamba, Zigua, and Mbugu tribes live. A relative homogeneity characterizes the productions of these groups, recalling some of the Malagasy and Bataks with whom, via maritime trade, contact could once have been established. This piece was probably used for educational purposes during male initiations. It could also ...

There is a wide variety of Fang statues within African art linked to the cult of Byeri.
This anthropomorphic sculpture, intended to be boxed in a basket-reliquaire by the posterior peduncle, has a concave face with the prognathic machoîre. The morphology is long, the importance of lineage is symbolized by the umbilical tenon and genitals. The attitude, on tiptoe, is common tpeu. Black patina, satin, scattered erosions.
The boxes containing the relics of illustrious ancestors were kept by the oldest man in the village, "esa". Surmounted by a statue or head that acted as the guardian of the boxes "byeri", they were stored in a dark corner of the box, supposed to divert evil influences to someone else. Samples were also taken from the figures for therapeutic purposes. They were ...

Ex-collection African tribal art Polargo USA 1955 - Mercier Belgium 1978.
This anthropomorphic figure of balanced proportions is depicted frontally, perched on a promontory whose base with holes allowed to fix the basketry and fabrics that concealed the dancer. The semi-flexed legs evoke the tribal dance mbobo of the girls during the ceremonies of the Ogbom , taking place in front of the altar at the end of periods of confinement. This danced ritual was dedicated to the deity of the earth named Ala in the Igbo , and Isong in the Ibibio. The masks were then kept near the chimney ducts of the huts in order to be protected from insects. Glossy dark patina, localized abrasions. Ex. Belgian collection Mercier.The Eket, established in southeastern Nigeria, are a subgroup of the Ibibio ...

Living to the east of the Luba kingdom on the banks of the Mbujimayi River, and having adopted part of the Luba culture, the Kanyok created prestigious objects, water pipes, neck presses, sticks, and stools, and dark wooden carved statuettes bearing bun hairstyles depicted in different postures.
On the Kanyok religion, the human being consists of three sets: body, soul and spirit. They believe in a supreme being named Tang a Ngoy.
The characters without scarifications and adornments stand opposite, faces close together, the woman sitting on her spouse's thighs. The oiled, dark brown patina has weak abrasions. Misses the end of a foot. Indigenous restoration on a thigh.

The African art of the Byeri cult is illustrated by various anthropomorphic sculptures that serve as "gardiens" and embody the ancestor.
The boxes containing the relics of illustrious ancestors were guarded by the oldest man in the village, the "esa". Surmounted by a statue or a head that acted as guardian of the boxes "byi", they were stored in a dark corner of the box, supposed to divert evil influences to someone else. They were also used during the initiation ceremonies of young people linked to the company "So". During the holidays, the statues were separated from their boxes and paraded.
This statuette intended to be recorded in a basket-reliquary by the posterior stalk, has a head with metal-circled eyes, and a sulky mouth with eroded volumes. The pattern of the ...

French tribal art collection.
This statue embodying a village spirit was used by the ancient baga to demand favor and protection of ancestors. A square in the centre of the village housed these statues, which were the subject of offerings. Some of them were used for divination. The head follows the structure of the Baga Nimba mask, whose busqué nose refers to the calao's beak, and an incised hair divided by a crest. This national symbol can reach up to 50 kg in its largest versions. Real name Demba / D'mba (or Nimba in baga language), it represents the nurturing woman, but also the fertility of the calao thanks to its beak-shaped nose. Supposed to increase harvests, arouse pregnancies, the mask is displayed at various ceremonies, celebrations and funerals.
Desication cracks, ...

Deep whitened orbits and wide rictus give an unusual character to this statue embodying the spirit of a great ape. It also serves as a reliquary thanks to its hollowed-out bust on the back, shuttered by a shutter. Tapestry nails highlight certain features. Dark skate abraded locally. Erosions.
Established in the equatorial forest between Cameroon and Gabon, the Bulu are part of the Fang ensemble that use sculptures as part of the cult of ancestors. As the Fang of South Cameroon famous for their large white masks, the Boulou, Bulu, also practiced the ritual Ngi , Ngil in order to fight witchcraft and poisoning. Ngi is the anthropoid monkey, a fearsome animal to which the applicant identifies after his acceptance into the secret society. (African Art, Mazenod).

A female anthropomorphic figure with raised arms and arose-encrusted surface. The bust forms a double cut to collect beer, oil or palm wine for ritual ceremonies. The hands are digitized, but the feet are missing, the base being totally gnawed. Desication cracks. It is in the northern part of the interior of Nigeria, at the confluence of Niger and Benué, that the Koro, alongside the Waja, Mama, Hausa, and Dakakari have settled. Especially known for their masks adorned with red seeds of abrus embodying the ancestors, they also use this type of cups with ritual offerings at funerals or during sacrifices.

From the ex private collection of African Art Emile Robyn ( Brussels, Belgium ).

With its forms and proportions, this piece of art echoes the statues in Bronze from Giacometti. The tchitcheri represents an ancestor symbolized with a human body and an abstract face. It is originally stuck in the soil. The tchitcheri sakwa refer to the memory of the founder of a clan.

It's the grandfather of Emile, Abel Robyn, that started the collection in 1850, who was transmitted over three generations. At the death of Abel in 1895, his son, Jérôme Robyn did inherited the collection which he continued to fulfil until his death in 1968.

Emile Robyn inherited from his father and also continued this magnificent collection with all the piece of art he bought ...

A people of Central Africa who live in Kasai, a neighbour of the Kuba, the Ndengese form one of the clans of a common ancestor Mongo , some of them from Upper Nile. They produced statues of art first to the absent or truncated lower limbs, covered with graphic symbols, symbolizing the prestige of the leader. The flared hairstyle topped with a summit horn is characteristic of the hairstyles acquired by the Totshi belonging to the association ikoho and evokes particular proverbs. It symbolizes respect, intelligence and maturity. The face seems to be in meditation. The neck has a sling. Losangic scarifications in relief, with the aim of differentiating socially and aesthetically, are drawn on the bust. The clasped hands highlight the protruding umbilical. Dark brown patina abraded, residual ...

This figure of matrilineage ancestor is established legs spread on a pedestal, the length of the bust constrassing with the proportions of the lower limbs. The character has a long headdress worn in the neck. It also has a horn or yam associated with fertility, and is distinguished by the abundance and diversity of its facial and body scarifications. This type of sculpture was associated with the rites of protection and healing. Grey brown patina, residual white clay deposits.
Stylistic kinship is noteworthy with the Luba.
The Tabwa ("scarifier" and ", write") are an ethnic group in southeastern DRC. Simple farmers without centralized power, they united around tribal leaders after being influenced by the Luba. It was mainly during this period that their artistic current was ...

This sculpture collected in Guinea Conakry embodies a young warrior, armed with a knife and carrying the head of an enemy. This rare work with menacing gestures has characteristic features of the productions of the Dan of Côte d'Ivoire and those established in Nimba County in Liberia, adjacent to the Guinean border, which probably influenced the statuary of some clans. The braided hair gathered in three thick back-to-back shells, the jewels in the ears, the facial and body scarifications, the mouth with protruding lips revealing the dentition, form aesthetic constants. The Dan also once had a reputation as warriors and cannibals. The position in which the character was depicted is also unusual: sitting, legs apart, his nudity asked by a textile sex cover of vegetable fibers.
Smooth, ...

This female African figure of ancestor whose pose, hands on the chest, would evoke fertility, is also associated with royal secrets. This attitude indicates that the secrets of royalty, bizila , belong to women through their role as political and spiritual intermediaries. She is pictured wearing a prolonged tiara of a hull and a thick braid behind a forehead largely cleared by the traditional shaving. The so-called "en epi" , "tactile mnemoniccode" , cover the abdomen, the hollow of the kidneys and the lower abdomen, highlighting the volumes and the protruding umbilical. The speckled patina is powdery. The heavily altered base was fixed on a pedestal.
The Luba (Baluba in Chiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is the Katanga, specifically the region of the Lubu River, ...

Ex-french African art collection.
Anthropic figure guardian of the reliquary containing the bones of the deceased, on which it was recorded by the posterior stalk. This concave-faced statue has a stretched bust in which the umbilical stands out and atrophied limbs. Its long neck is surrounded by a metal torque, with apotropaic virtues. The umbilical lozenge and the geometric representation of sex are associated with parentage. The hollowed-out orbits give a psychic look to the figure. The black brown patina, smooth and oiled, blends locally.
A disturbing reputation for cannibals accompanied the Fang people, carefully studied by ethnologist Louis Perrois. Rituals and ceremonies related to the worship of Theby also included taking a hallucinogenic drug, alan , in order to ...

Ex-collection Belgian African art In the 13th century, the Kongo people, led by their king Ne Kongo, settled in a region at the crossroads of the current DRC, Angola and Gabon Two centuries later later, the Portuguese came into contact with the Kongo and converted their king to Christianity.Although monarchical, the Kongo political system had a democratic aspect because the king was actually placed at the head of the kingdom following an election held by A council of tribal governors, who was also known as ntotela, controlled the appointment of court and provincial officials, and the nganga, who were both healers, were in charge of religious activities and mediation of the God called Nzambi by intermediate of consecrated figures named nkisi A monochrome figure of an ancestor sitting on a ...

Ex-German African art collection.
Couple of Bamiléké warriors at a height of 1m90.
Museum Parts.
In African art, works in Bamiléké countries are distinguished by the regular use of pearls to decorate not only their masks but also their statues.
Each statue is marked by a strong polychromy.
It thus identifies the chiefdom to which these statues are attributed.
The use of cauris is reserved only for headdresses, while thousands of beads are embroidered to draw various patterns.
Every warrior carries his weapons slung over his shoulder.
Holding a loose loincloth for running and fighting.