Tribal Art

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.

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 ...

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, ...

. 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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

br>This sculpture of a woman presented standing on a circular base, her hands positioned on either side of a slightly rounded abdomen, offers an evocative image of fecundity. The bust is small, and muscles are drawn on the stocky legs. She wears a necklace of ancient pearls, a loincloth, and body scarification. Abraded matte patina. Slight cracks and lacks at the base.
This type of African statues belonged to the Temne women's society, named Bundu . The Mendé neighbors had similar effigies. These were used in healing rites for transgressors of the rules of the Sandé society. Abraded matt patina. The Temne organized themselves into chieftaincies headed by a supreme chief. The ragbenle or mneke society, responsible for fertility, intervened at the death of the chief. The ...

African mask of the Tsogho type related to the Pové masks embodying the primordial ancestor Muhunzu. Called Nzambé-kana and Disumba among the Tsogho, it intervenes during Bwiti ceremonies for rites of passage or mourning. The successive arcs forming his features soften his physiognomy. Parallel scarifications, placed horizontally, counter balance the whole. Light patina, gray and beige highlights. Cracks and abrasions.
A matrilineal tribe close to the Pounou or Punu, the Tsogo, Mitsogo, are traditionally farmers (slash-and-burn agriculture) and renowned for their very elaborate rituals of religious practice, and particularly of initiation, notably the bwiti or the mwiri for men, and the nyembe for women. Their masks are kept at the back of the ebanza house where the ...

Former parade weapon, this sickle has a wooden handle with a lustrous patina. The blade has a grainy oxidized patina.
The Fang ethnic group, established in a region stretching from Yaoundé in Cameroon to Ogooué in Gabon, has never had political unity. Clan cohesion was maintained through religious and judicial associations such as so and ngil .

Old shield from the Paduko warriors, in English Podokwo or Podoko, in the far north of Cameroon. This rectangular shield, fitted with a handle at the back, is made up of rigid ribs of flattened rônier palms, held together by braces of bamboo stalks, all surrounded by strips of skin. Ref. : " https://books.openedition.org/irdeditions/25098?lang=fr"

Ex-collection of French African tribal art.
Mandinka people, most of whom live in eastern Burkina Faso, but also in southern Mali, the culture of the Bobo Fing is similar to that of of the Bambara. They are organized into lineages headed by councils of elders. In each village altars are erected under the authority of the blacksmiths, priests of the cult of Dwo, but the Bobo also venerate secondary spirits and those of the ancestors. In addition to objects carved in wood, they also make fiber sheet masks that they will wear during ceremonies to establish a relationship with the spiritual world. The most important of the wooden masks are the sacred altar-masks (molo and nwenke), the masks that accompany them (nyanga) and those entertainment (Bole , sing. bolo). Before the rainy season, ...

Weapons of hunting, war, or prestige, swords, axes, spears and African command sticks are attributes of dignitaries exhibited during parades and official celebrations.
Blade whose contours are protected by narrow strips of leather, a copper element joining them around the tip. The handle of the spear is surrounded by tightly braided leather straps, its volute end carries a metal ring. The Shilluk (variant Shiluck, Chilouk) form a Nilotic people mainly established in southern Sudan, on the banks of the Nile, around Malakal, where they constitute the third largest ethnic group after the Dinka and the Nuer.

Sculpture from the area around Dar-es-Salam, on the coast of Tanzania, where the Kaguru, Luguru, Kwéré, Zaramo and Doé tribes live.
The female figure is recurrent in the sculpted works.
Perched on a seat with openwork feet, a woman wears a double crest pierced with holes. The arms are exaggeratedly long, extending from fingered hands, one of which rests on a breast.
Gray beige patina with kaolin.
The Zaramo and the tribes that surround them, such as the Kwéré and the Doé, designed dolls generally associated with fertility, but to which other virtues would be attributed. Its primary role is played during the period of confinement of the young initiate Zaramo. The novice will behave towards the object as with a child, and will dance with it during the closing ...

In African art, African masks sowei form an idealized representation of female beauty through Mende culture. They embody aquatic spirits. This cephalomorphic mask forms a copy of the type of masks named bundu the most important in the Mendes. The face has a high bulging forehead forming the upper half, while the narrow features are concentrated in the lower part. The face seems to be engulfed in a neck where the folds appear an abundance of flesh, a symbol of prosperity. From the top, between the fins of the hairstyle, springs a cephalomorphic figure worn by an equally ringed neck.
Peint in black or tinted with a brush of leaves, the mask was then rubbed with palm oil. Velvet matte patina, Ochre residual inlays, erosions, slight desication cracks.br>The Mende, Vaï and Gola cultures ...

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 ...

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 ...

French African art collection.
Showing obvious signs of use, this ancient Dogon zoomorphic mask named walu, an animal linked to the Dogon cosmogony, offers dark patterns in partially abraded pastillage and whitewash. Guarantor of order, the mask of the Walu charges the spectators too close to the dancers. A pantomime then illustrates the legend of the mythical walu. Many villages have this mask with different meanings. Desication cracks.
Alongside Islam, Dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the Lébé, relating to fertility, the Wagem, cult of the ancestors under the authority of the patriarch, the Binou invoking the world of spirits, and the Awa mask society regarding funerals. The "dama" is a ceremony dedicated to restoring the order of things ...

Collection of French African tribal art
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Figured seated, this elegant Bambara sculpture offers a narrow stylized head. The slender body, composed of oblong shapes punctuated by angles, has fine attachments, slender feet and hands. The small stool was also made with precision. Beautiful brown patina with orange reflections. Excellent condition.
These female statues, or Bambara queens, Guandoudou, Gwandusu associated with fertility and fecundity, were surrounded by statues representing their servants, presenting offering cups or supporting their chest. The blacksmiths of the Dyo, Djo or Do society used them every seven years during the fertility ritual. Infertile women then had to sacrifice a bird, wash the figures with peanut soap, segue, and then anoint them with shea ...