Tribal Art

In the Arctic regions of North America called “Inuit Nunangat” live the Inuit people related to the Yupitt, Yupiks, of Alaska and Siberia. The Yupik and Esquimo, Eskimo, make, despite respecting certain traditional conventions, ceremonial masks of very varied size and appearance. For each occasion, following a dream, the shaman will indicate to the sculptor the function and shape of the mask required and which he will wear himself. The masks are associated with the “yua” souls of different animals or fish, which should be honored through rituals. This unique Yupik-type mask offers a grimacing face, removable elements resembling a hand and a "fin" are installed on the surface, also decorated with an animal fur hairstyle, feathers and a wicker hoop. . Polychrome, matte pigments.

Ex Italian tribal art collection.
The traditional arts of Western Indonesia are generally marked by the influence of Islam, Buddhism, and Balinese Hinduism. Thus Sumatra, among the islands of Southeast Asia, has inherited Asian theatrical traditions. It is here through an idealized naturalism that this sculpted head puppet shows the link between the human community and that of the ancestors. The delicacy of the features suggests in this case that it would be a character of high rank, whose peaceful and benevolent physiognomy is veiled by a subtle frown.
By transmitting the perception of beauty, the Batak of North Sumatra excel in the art of sculpture. The puppets and heads si galegale stem from a funerary tradition where the carved object replaces, when necessary, the ...

Witnesses to the traditions of the Hopi Indian peoples of Arizona, Katsinam sculpted objects (song. Kachina) are expressed during traditional dances accompanying the annual rain festivals. This Hopi-type mask presents an animal skin helmet trimmed with fur trim, feathers, raffia ribbon, dried corn cob nose. It is framed by a large panel painted with polychrome decorative motifs on each of its sides. The hues would indicate the nature of the spirit represented. The patina is matte, abrasions and small accidents.

Witnesses to the traditions of the Hopi Indian peoples of Arizona, Katsinam sculpted objects (song. Kachina) are used during traditional dances organized for the annual rain festivals. This Hopi-type mask, flanked by movable ears and a bird "beak", is topped with statuettes representing masked dancers. The polychrome matte patina, abrasions and small chips.

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.

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 ...

Old cattle splint adorned with a bronze bell. Origin undetermined.

Panel painted on panggal (mbi), stems of sago palm leaves, from the hills of Washkuk, Upper Sepik, in Papua New Guinea, collected in the 1970s in situ by an ethnologist. The motifs represented on a black background symbolize the artist's clan. The painting is fixed on a wooden panel dyed black. Among the Kwoma ("Men of the hills"), these assembled panels covered the internal face of the roof within the houses of worship and the men. Each Kwoma clan has a certain number of totems, plants or animal species, classified by gender. The Kwoma economy depends on sago, the fruit of the sago palm, and the yam with which various ritual ceremonies are associated.

Wearing his Tuwu crown, this sculpted subject forms an ancestor figure, a reduced version of the monumental statues presiding over judgments, trials and executions for various transgressions and placed in the houses of the chiefs. Nias is the largest of the islands of North Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The ancestor figures of the Nias (men) are associated with local creation myths, according to which a heroic figure named Hia came from the celestial regions on the banks of the Gomo. Glossy brown patina. Slight erosions.
Lit. : "Indonesian Tribal Art" B.W. Carpenter; ed. EDN.

Among the particularly refined ethnographic objects from Oceania, true royal attributes, this non-functional paddle has a skillfully chiseled openwork handle. The blade is also adorned with a succession of very finely crafted decorative motifs. This prestigious object accompanied ceremonial dances and official outings of dignitaries.

Collection of French tribal art. Realistic mask adapted to the human face, seeking to reproduce, among the range of celebrities, characters or mythical heroes involved in Mexican theatrical dances and carnivals, the features of an ancient actor named Pedro Infante, famous in Mexican culture. The surface is carefully painted with brilliant polychrome tones.

Ex-French American art collection.
Witnesses to the traditions of the Hopi Indian peoples of Arizona, the sculpted Katsinam objects (song. Kachina) are expressed during traditional dances accompanying the annual festivals in favor of the rain. This Hopi-type mask, flanked by surprising ears and a protruding "beak", is notched with rectangular pupils underlined in black. The hues would indicate the nature of the spirit represented. The patina is matte, velvety, abrasions and small accidents.

Witnesses to the traditions of the Hopi Indian peoples of Arizona, the sculpted Katsinam objects (song. Kachina) are expressed during traditional dances accompanying the annual festivals in favor of the rain. This semi-cylindrical Hopi-type mask bears colored patterns edged in black, the choice of colors of which is not insignificant because it indicates the nature of the spirit represented. Large ears are set on either side of the volume of the face, while a tubular mouth forms a protrusion.
The patina is matte, velvety and grainy, desiccation cracks.

Witnesses to the traditions of the Hopi Indian peoples of Arizona, the sculpted Katsinam objects (song. Kachina) 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.

On the border of India and Myanmar (Burma, or Union of Burma in English) the Nagas use these machetes called dao worn in wide belts. The belt forms a solid frame made of braided vegetable fibers, extended by the rectangular and flat wooden case. The blade is held in its sheath by a braided wicker cord, stretched on either side of the wooden element. The dao is used for war purposes, but also for agricultural work and for everyday activities.
Usage abrasions.

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. They are grouped here in a team of five statuettes with a height of 24 cm. The patina is matte and velvety, abrasions, minimal cracks.

Collection of French Asian art.
This rice-harvesting sickle, named Kândiev trâkong in Cambodia, is made of buffalo horn, the smooth and oiled surface of which has a khaki tint. Its curve is inspired by the naga serpent and traditional Southeast Asian myths. Copper rings surround the handle, the end of which is lined with brass and copper. The cutting edge of the blade offers a very finely serrated edge.
Old piece whose balance of curved shapes is enhanced by a quality base.

Witnesses to the traditions of the Hopi Indian peoples of Arizona, the sculpted Katsinam objects (song. Kachina) are expressed during traditional dances accompanying the annual festivals in favor of the rain. This cylindrical mask of the Hopi type bears colored patterns edged in black, the choice of colors of which is not insignificant because it indicates the nature of the spirit represented. Cotton ribbons connect the prominent ears to the mask, while the top is embellished with feathers attached to a vegetable fiber canvas and a geometric element on which a face is inscribed.
The patina is matte and particularly velvety, desiccation cracks.

From the Gobi Desert and Tibet, nomads settled in Burma around the 8th-13th century, maintaining the traditional culture of "Tatau" from the Tai and Shan. In the 19th century, Burmese diginitaries sported circular body patterns from the hips to the knees. These dark colored tattoos had an aesthetic and spiritual significance.
The hands are surmounted by finely detailed subjects, sitting on thrones with zoomorphic motifs, elephant heads for one of them. The characters in ceremonial dress, wearing traditional winged helmets, have a pair of scepter sticks whose upper end, in volute, rests on their shoulders. The sleeves consist of different sections bounded by filigree copper rings, arabesque patterns and twisted copper wire.

This ample basketwork structure, vaguely zoomorphic in appearance, is a mask from the Abelam, living in the region of the Sepik river, nicknamed the Nile of New Guinea. The initiated men compete there by cultivating yams of the highest size. During the harvest, the yams are displayed decorated with masks, fruits, shells and feathers during ceremonies involving the ancestors. Mask of the same type p.6 to 8 in "Masques, Masterpieces from the Quai Branly collections" in ed. Quai Branly Museum.
Melanesia , in the Pacific Ocean, includes Papua (Irian Jaya), Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands. The population is the result of successive migrations resulting in racial heterogeneity resulting in many languages ​​and great artistic diversity. Most of these ...

Belgian tribal art collection.
This mask from the region of the Sepik River, nicknamed the Nile of New Guinea, has a flat, oblong shape, associated with traditional canoes, and from which spring a hooked nose and a bulbous forehead. Stylized patterns painted with natural red pigments alternate with white lines. Vegetable fibers accompanied by feathers embellish the contours.
Melanesia , in the Pacific Ocean, includes Papua (Irian Jaya), Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands. The population is the result of successive migrations resulting in racial heterogeneity resulting in many languages ​​and great artistic diversity. Most of these communities were organized into male societies with ceremonial huts in which statues, masks and ritual objects were ...