The tribal art of the Byeri cult is illustrated by various anthropomorphic sculptures acting as "guardians" and embodying the ancestor. This sculpted figure, intended to be introduced into a reliquary basket by the peduncle, has a prognathic jawbone in which a pout emerges. The amplitude of the pelvis and thighs contrasts with the rest of the morphology. Fanned fingers are joined in front of the torso. Extended in the nape of a ponytail, voluminous shells complete the metallic ornaments. Black oiled patina, semi-matte. 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 "byeri" boxes, they were supposed to deflect evil influences. They were also used ...
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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.
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French African art collection. Three male figures with Nimba's heads support this spectacular, conical baga drum, adorned with a well-preserved polychromy. The skin of the drum, stretched and held by ropes and large studs, has many traces of use. Called timba by the Baga, matimbo by the Pokur and The Nalu, this musical instrument was played by men with chopsticks during ceremonial rituals. Mêlés aux Nalu and Landuman , the Baga live along the coasts of Guinea-Bissau in areas of swamps flooded six months a year. These Baga groups based on the coast and living from rice farming are made up of seven subgroups, including the Baga Kalum, Bulongic, Baga sitem, Baga Mandori, etc. They believe in a creative god called Nagu, Naku, which they do not represent, and which is accompanied ...
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The Mangbetu statues probably represent ancestors of the clan. They display incisions in connection with the body paintings and the scarifications of the group, comparable to those of the Asua pygmies with whom the tribe maintained relations. These reasons varied according to the circumstances. The fan hairstyle was worn by the Mangbetu: from an early age, children suffered compression of the cranial box by means of raffia ties. Later, the Mangbetu would "knit" their hair on wicker strands and apply a headband to the forehead in order to extract the hair and produce that particular headdress which accentuates the elongation of the head. The ancients call these figures of ancestors stored out of sight and comparable to those belonging to their secret society nebeli beli. Shiny dark ...
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960.00 €
Small mortar for spices, pigments, or therapeutic ingredients. The object is carved with different faces that take up the features of the traditional masks of the group. Golden brown satin patina. Slight residue of kaolin. The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Eastern have settled on the banks of the Kasai downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of the neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba, and Salempasu have been imprinted on their extensive tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity the Mbuya masks, realistic ,produced every ten years, have a festive function, and embody different characters, including the chief, the diviner and his wife, the prostitute, the possessed, etc.... The masks of initiation and those of power, the ...
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290.00 €
Ancient African mask bakrogui, Simogui, or Angbaï, of the Toma of Guinea, relating to the ancestors. This mask intended to impress is equipped with a thick skin hood, lined with various elements, mirrors, cowries. It is extended by a heavy cape made of embroidered textile and velvet with colored patterns, edged with red fabric. Metal bells adorn the contours of the mask. Only members of the Poro were allowed to contemplate the bakrogui mask. The Toma of Guinea, called Loma in Liberia, live within the forest, at high altitude. They are renowned for their landai board masks intended to enliven the initiation rites of the poro association that structures their society, and which represent spirits of the bush. As soon as the landai mask appeared, the initiates would go to the ...
View details Toma mask
2900.00 €
This Baule African mask, a portrait mask or ndoma, has many careful details illustrating Baule refinement. It is also embellished with fine scarifications named " ngole". Dark brown glossy surface. Acquired at the Hotel des Ventes Giraudeau, ex. Parisian private collection. Height on base: 39 cm. Splits. These portrait masks of the Baule, ndoma , which are part of one of the oldest Baule artistic traditions and frequently represent an idealized character, have the particularity of appearing at the end of ceremonies of entertainment dances.These are named, according to the regions, bedwo , ngblo , mblo , adjussu , etc.... Each of these masks differ in hairstyles, placement and choice of scarification. They perform during danced events accompanied by ...
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This large carved seat where the seat rests on the back of an aquine figure forms a rare piece. It is embellished with large polychrome motifs. Patina glossed by use on the supporting areas, some cracks of desication. Mêlés aux Nalu and Landuman , the Baga live along the coasts of Guinea-Bissau in areas of swamps flooded six months a year. These Baga groups based on the coast and living from rice farming are made up of seven subgroups, including the Baga Kalum, Bulongic, Baga sitem, Baga Mandori, etc. They believe in a creative god called Nagu, Naku, which they do not represent, and which is accompanied by a male spirit whose name is Somtup. Apart from the famous Nimba mask, they have created a powerful mask, hybrid snake, gazelle, chameleon and crocodile, with the aim of ...
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This African statuette generally called "colon" , forms, for the Baoulé, an idealized, individual image of the celestial spouse. Its features were carved on the indications of the diviner for his client in an attempt to remedy various problems. Abraded polychrome patina. Desication crack. Two types of statues are produced by the baoulé in the ritual context: TheWaka-Sona statues, "being of wood" in Baoulé, evoke a assié oussou, being of the earth. They are one of a type of statues intended to be used as medium tools by Komien soothsayers, the latter being selected by the asye usu spirits in order to communicate revelations from beyond. The second type of statues, made according to the indications of the diviner, are the spouses of the beyond, masculine, the ...
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The polychrome mask is surmounted by a basketwork structure draped in textile painted with geometric patterns. This headdress ends in four lobes arranged in a corolla. A handle, concealed by the thick raffia adornment, allows you to carry everything. Neighbors of the Yaka and the Kongo in the west of the former Zaire, the Zombo fear, like the Kongo clans, the god named Nzambi. Their diviners use fetishes similar to those of the Kongo, the ceremonies associated with the initiation rites, however, stem from Yaka traditions. Hierarchical and authoritarian, made up of formidable warriors, Yaka society was governed by lineage leaders with the right to life and death over their subjects. Hunting and the prestige that results from it are nowadays an opportunity for the Yaka to ...
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Canadian African Tribal Art Collection. Baga religious practices and African art. The Baga use various crest masks in the image of young girls, the tiyambo evoking a young puberty and the yombifissa or "beautiful hair". These masks are often escorted by women singing songs in susu, on the occasion of harvests, weddings, visits of dignitaries. Dark oiled patina, abrasions of use and cracks. Native restorations. Mixed with the Nalu and the Landuman, the Baga live along the coasts of Guinea-Bissau in areas of swamps flooded six months a year . They believe in a creator god called Nagu , Naku , whom they do not represent, and who is accompanied by a male spirit one of whose names is Topup . Apart from the famous Nimba mask, they created a powerful ...
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Mask in the form of a basketwork structure draped in textile, imprisoning a bouquet of feathers at the top, the whole abundantly lined with raffia fibers. The whole thing formed a strange hat for the dancer whose mask consisted of facial paintings. Established in the Ogooué basin, the Okandé group of Membé language, neighbor of the Punu, Pounou, is composed of the Tsogho, Pové (Vuvi), Okandé, Evea, and Apindji ethnic groups. These ethnic groups practice the cult of Mwiri, a male initiation society. Source: "Masks of Gabon", ed. Wakes; http://www.theatramour.com/masque_bodi.php.
View details Bodi Mask
750.00 €
A prestigious object displayed during ceremonies and ritual dances, this weapon has an anthropomorphic handle depicting an ancestor with braids drawn towards the nape of the neck. Similar to the Luba, whose effigy bears abdominal scarification marks, the Tabwa and the populations that surround them generally depict the body in its entirety. Smooth mahogany red patina. The Tabwa are an ethnic group present in the southeast of the DRC. Simple farmers with no centralized power, they federated around tribal chiefs after coming under the influence of the Luba. It is mainly during this period that their artistic movement was expressed through statues and masks. The Tabwa practiced ancestor worship and dedicated some of their statues to them. Animists, their beliefs are ...
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Bronze sculptures referring to the primordial ancestors of the Dogon. These African Dogon statues, in bronze, indeed evoke the Nommos, mythical beings at the origin of creation among the Dogon of Mali. Greenish patina. The Dogon are a people renowned for their cosmogony, their esotericism, their myths and legends. Their population is estimated at around 300,000 souls living in the south-west of the Niger loop in the Mopti region of Mali (Bandiagara, Koro, Banka), near Douentza and part of northern Burkina (north-west of Ouahigouya ). Remains of old steelworks on the Bandiagara plateau, dating from the 15th century, confirm the activity of the blacksmiths. The latter form an endogamous caste among the Dogon called irim They now produce weapons, tools, and also work with ...
View details Bronzes Dogon figurines
580.00 €
Powerful visual impact for this "mask of bravery" of We from Liberia. The huge mouth, devoid of teeth, responds to the circular volume of the exorbitant pupils, and, under a human nose, to the tiny orifices representing the nostrils. Crusty and composite agglomerates, in which mingle bird's down. Grainy matte patina. Height on base: 41 cm. The Dan, in the north, and the Wé in the south (Krou group comprising the Guéré, the Wobé in the northeast and the Wé of Liberia called Kran or Khran), made frequent use of borrowings due to their proximity. The elements of the bush, protruding volumes of the forehead, horns and fangs, zoomorphic jaw in some cases evoking the gaping mouth of an animal creature, are associated with human traits marking the duality of the divine. Before the 1960s, ...
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490.00 €
. This powerful sentinel built against evil spell displays a concentrated countenance, tight mouth, closed eyes. With a woman with narrow shoulders and stocky lower limbs, her hands placed on her abdomen, she seems to gather all the energy necessary for her role as a caretaker. Dark satin patina. This botchio (from bo: 'evil' in fon, and tchio , 'cadavre') erected at the top of a pole was erected at the entrance of the village or a house in order to remove any threat, physical or spiritual. Some of them took minimalist forms, barely put on around a central trunk. The multitude of gods fon (the vodun), similar to those of Yoruba under different names, is represented by fetishes of all shapes and kinds. Their sanctuaries can be found in Togo, Dahomey, and western Nigeria. Statuettes ...
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This gnarled stick, surmounted by a carved figure, was the emblem of a notable Bemba. The spherical head offers simply engraved features, the body a frontal posture, large digited hands resting on the abdomen. Golden yellow patina. The Bemba, or Bambembas, from Maniema, claim to be of Luba origin and settled on the banks of Lake Moero, near Zambia, and Lake Tanganyka. The Bemba participated in the slave trade during the 19th century by allying themselves with the slave king Msiri. Colonial policy dispersed them in the twentieth century. Their leader now rules at Kasama in Zambia. They believe in a supreme god, Lesa , worship nature spirits, Ngulu , a snake named lunga , and mythical ancestors. Their highly diverse art was influenced by that of neighboring tribes, Luba, Lunda, ...
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480.00 €
Kota African art.Unusual by its face in very marked relief, this reliquary guardian is indeed typical of the Kota style of the Sébé valley, a tributary of the right bank of the Ogooué, in the east of Gabon . Rows of embossed dotted lines underline the shells enhanced with a thick coppery rib. The latter borders the contours of the "death's head", also dividing the forehead. The base is narrow and relatively compact. The eyes are made of bone, the eyelid metallic, and the mouth absent. Copper wires are wound around the base, which is surrounded by a ring. The back of the sculpture depicts the headdress of a dignitary. This prestigious sculpture symbolizes the link between the world of the living and that of the dead. This type of effigy had the function of keeping the mortuary relics ...
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Price on request
Coll. Belgian tribal art. The primitive sculptures Lega in African art. This ancient mask with concave eye sockets, painted with circular patterns, has a thick locally chipped crusty patina. The hollowed-out eyes are surrounded by pink ochre. Interesting abrasions of use. This African Lega mask indicated the stage that its holder had reached within the Bwami, a learning society composed of different ranks, and which was joined by the wives whose spouse had reached the third level, that of the ngandu . Within the Lea, the society of the Bwami open to men and women, organized social and political life. There were up to seven levels of initiation, each associated with emblems. Following their exodus from Uganda in the 17th century, the Lega settled on the west bank of the ...
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Support for a traditional cult, this two-headed sculpture that was placed on an altar consists of reclining bust figures. The abdomen that connects them is pierced with a thick metal peg. This accessory could represent the umbilicus associated with the lineage. Old, velvety patina, desiccation cracks, thin blackish residual film. Named Gurunsi, Gourundi, by their Mossi neighbors, the groups living to the west and south of the Mossi plateau, Lela, Winiama, Nuna and Nunuma are the main mask carvers. Religiously, the Gurunsi believe in a superior being, Yi, who withdrew from the world after creating it and whose altar occupies the center of the village. Yi has sent, to represent him, the spirit Su, embodied in all the masks and honored by an altar which can be replaced by a ...
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This exceptional African Dogon mask, surmounted by snake motifs, was collected in the 1950s by a great lover of African art, Mr. Arnaud, accompanying Alain Bilot, a renowned collector of Dogon art during study stays in Mali. . The features in high relief, contrasting with the gaze with oblique eyelids, pointing under a prominent forehead, lend a rare force to this Dogon mask. Four snakes rise, creating a striking undulating movement. Brown patina, matte. Abrasions of use and encrusted deposits of ritual unctions, cracks. Height on base: 67 cm. The Dogon are a people renowned for their culture, their myths and legends. Their population is estimated at around 300,000 souls living in the southwest of the Niger bend in the Mopti region of Mali. The Dogon blacksmiths form an endogamous caste ...
View details Dogon Mask