Tribal Art

Representing a hybrid creature, or a masked dancer, whose head recalls the animal masks of groups in southwestern Burkina Faso, this animal sculpture is supported by stick-like growths. She embodies a spirit of the bush. Heterogeneous matte, chipped patina.
Among the Gurunsi, the Lela, Winiama, Nuna and Nunuma are the main mask carvers. They influenced the style and meaning of the masks of their neighbors Mossi and Bwa. These African masks depicting spirits of the bush came out during ritual dances and were worn by members of the village equipped with integral plant fiber outfits that covered the body. The tribal ritual was supposed to bring fertility and prosperity to the village, provided it was performed correctly. These masks were also used during funeral ceremonies of ...

A hallucinogenic bark, the ebanza, allowed the wearer of this type of mask to enter a trance suitable for developing mediumistic abilities. Songs accompanied his appearance. Cracks, gritty kaolin residue, abrasions, native restorations (staples).
Height on base: 47 cm.
Akin to the African Okuyi masks of the Punu ethnicities of the Shira tribes, the African masks produced by the peripheral groups, Vuvi, Galoa and Mitsogho, are also covered with white pigments for apotropaic purposes. The oblique visor headdress, reminiscent of a capillary fashion in the Shira group, constituted the frontal part of a coffered hairstyle. Devoid of scarifications, this African mask has narrow protruding eyelids, a triangular nose and a diamond-shaped mouth that seems to whistle. Break. Grainy ...

Ce type d'objets en métal, nommé Suu ou encor So, était utilisé comme moyen de paiement (point par exemple) dans la partie nord-est du Nigéria, et dans certains groupes à l'Ouest du Cameroun.
Epaisse patine croûteuse ocrée.
Population d'origine bantoue établie au sud-est du Nigéria, mais également au nord-ouest du Cameroun frontalier, près des Mfunte (ou Wuli) des Grasslands, les Mambila (" les hommes" en fulani), qui tirent leur subsistance de l 'agriculture et de l'élevage, ont produit des statues incarnant les ancêtres, associées à la fertilité et la prospérité, et des masques-heaumes pour les cérémonies clôturant la saison des semailles. Les objets cultuels des Mambila, utilisés par les nombreuses et puissantes associations initiatiques, participaient en outre aux ...

Besides the African face masks worn during mapiko dances and ngoma ceremonies that educate young people about the demands of marriage and life As a family, the Makonde also produce naturalistic body masks depicting the female bust, such as this rare and spectacular life-size example.
Young Makonde boys and girls must submit to a period of seclusion of about six months, during which they are taught songs, dances and practical activities. The rules of behavior in adulthood, sexual life and the obligations of marriage are discussed. This initiation ended with festive ceremonies featuring male midimu (sing. ndimu) dancers. The latter, wearing a female mask paired with a costume whose ensemble is called amwalindembo, mimicked the suffering accompanying childbirth.
Patina of ...

Among the African masks Punu, this example offers a face topped with two spaced vertical shells, extended laterally by quilts. Devoid of the traditional "mabinda" checkerboard scarifications, this mask called itengi (plural: bitengi) was used during funerals and initiations of young boys. Velvety matte patina.
Height on base: 43 cm.
The masks of the Punus were associated with the various secret societies of Gabon, including the Bwiti, Bwete, and the Mwiri ("to lead"), the latter spanning several levels of initiation. These powerful societies, which also had a judicial function, included several dances, including the leopard dance, the Esomba, the Mukuyi, and the Okuyi dance, on stilts, remaining the most widespread. . This whitewashed kaolin face mask, evoking a deceased ...

Sculpture depicting a priestess or a follower with a face marked with "kpélé" vertical scarifications.
Chipped orange patina. Crack, abrasions.
Yoruba society has several associations whose roles vary. While the male egbe society reinforces social norms, the aro unites the farmers. The gelede has more esoteric and religious aims. Notables come together in a society called esusu. Offering cups, some of which were used to store kola nuts or other gifts for visitors, were once placed in royal palaces in the Ekiti and Igbomina regions of Yoruba country. The kingdoms of Oyo and Ijebu arose following the disappearance of the Ifé civilization and are still the basis of the political structure of the Yoruba . The Oyo created two cults centered on the Egungun and Sango societies, ...

These primitive coins in the shape of a large hoe, in large format, were used for offerings, as a wedding dowry and of course for major festive and ceremonial occasions. The Anga tribes of the Jos plateau in northern Nigeria offered this type of object as a dowry to the father of the future wife. These coins also had a ceremonial function during the celebration of the union. However, some attribute these particular shaped coins to the Afos, a neighboring tribe established below the Jos plateau. The Afos speak a Benue-Congolese language: Eyoli. Two parts stand out, a narrow handle and the lower part of a rectangular shape called the shovel shape which is also found in the Mambilas.
The oxidation of old iron offers a grainy orange patina.

Statue depicting a woman wearing a helmet mask. Polychrome satin patina. Erosions.
The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Eastern settled on the banks of the Kasaï downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salempasu imprinted on their large tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity, the realistic Mbuya masks, produced every ten years, take on a festive function and embody different characters. The masks of initiation and those of power, the minganji, represent the ancestors and occur successively during the same ceremonies, agricultural festivals, initiation and circumcision rituals mukanda , enthronement of the leader. Governed by heads of families, the Djogo, with a priestly function, the ...

Diversité des masques animaliers chez les Dogon.
Plus de quatre-vingt types de masques Dogon ont été répertoriés, la majorité utilisée par les initiés circoncis de la société Awa, au cours de cérémonies funéraires. L'Awa désigne les masques, leurs costumes, et l'ensemble des Dogons au service des masques. Le "nyama", force vitale du masque, est activé par différents rituels afin de développer tout le potentiel magique de l'objet. Le masque Ko des Dogon fait partie de trois types de masques singes : Dege figure un babouin et les masques Ko et Omono représentent des singes grivets . Les singes se nourrissent de fruit du baobab et des épis de mil qu'ils volent dans les champs. Ce masque tribal était porté avec une jupe en fibres de sansevière qui dissimulait le danseur. La ...

African art and tribal cult vodun the ewe and fon
sking sculpture depicting a woman standing, arms without hands glued to the bust, is draped up to the bust of a colorful cotton wool. The waist and head are coated with indigo crusty pigments and kaolin residues, and clumped plant fibers. An opening at the top of the head introduced the magic charge. Splashed matte patina.
As african fetishes are part of rituals according to the intentions of their owner. The fetishists, following the divination ritual of fa using palm nuts, make them to order to offer protective and medicinal virtues but also offer versions ready to use more conventional.


The Ewe, often mistaken for the Minas, are Togo's largest ethnic group. They are also found as minorities in Ghana, Benin, ...

Ex-collection African art Belgian
Rare and old Ti-wara, crest mask of African art.
Toque attached to a basketwork frame with cotton strips. It is surmounted by a sculpture depicting the body of an antelope. The head is missing. Clear patina of use, erosions and abrasions. Desication cracks.
It would be an animal - genius called Ciwara who would have taught the Bambara to cultivate the land. The latter remember the myth through the stylized representation of an antelope, whose name ci wara means "wild of the earth". Worn at the top of the skull and held in place by a kind of small basket, these crests accompanied the dancers during the rituals of the tòn, an association dedicated to agricultural work. The masks traversed the field while leaping in order to drive out ...

Ibeji, substitute images in African art
This effigy reflects African Yoruba sculpture. Anointing residues remain locally crystallized.
Shiny mahogany patina, indigo highlights.
In the language of the Yoruba people, ibeji means twin: ibi for born and eji for two< /i>. They represent the figure of a deceased twin. This ibedji is then treated as the missing child would have been. It is the mother who must take care of him; she can wash and feed him regularly. If she dies, the remaining twin takes over.
It also happened that a man had ibeji carved for his wife in order to encourage pregnancy, the object becoming a support for fertility. Support for the soul of the twin, the ibeji influences the life of the family, becoming a source of benefits for his parents, the latter ...

It is through various secret societies that the Bambara initiates will acquire their knowledge, including that of Koré, targeting the elders and during which this mask intervenes. Kore society is divided into eight classes of initiates, the sixth of which is that of the hyenas, or surukuw.

The bulbous forehead of the mask is surmounted a horn which would symbolize the tuft of hair removed after the death of the animal. The prominent forehead refers to intelligence. .
Abrasions from use and cracks.

Established in central and southern Mali, in a savannah zone, the Bambara, "Bamana" or "unbelievers", as the Muslims have named them, belong to the large Mande group, with the Soninke and the Malinke. The Bambara nyamakala artisan groups, more specifically the ...

African zoomorphic mask, worn on the head. This mask refers to the antelope. Polychrome decorative motifs.
Matte patina, abrasions and desication cracks.
The African art sculptures of the Bobo, Bwa, Kurumba and Mossi, living in Burkina Faso, frequently take up and combine stylized elements borrowed from men, animals or even insects. It is the spirits of nature who are believed to determine an individual's well-being and prosperity, and adversity will be seen as the result of neglect of collective rituals. It is therefore during different celebrations that the mask will personify a spirit of nature or that of an ancestor in order to influence the daily lives of members of the ethnic group. They appear to honor the deceased during funeral rites, and to escort souls to the ...

Rare work, strange object of curiosity offering two heads on a hollowed bust around a miniature subject. This African statue Nkisi, nkishi (pl. mankishi) of the Songye is pierced with numerous nails. Different metals adorn the faces reminiscent of kifwebe masks. Thick black patina, locally grainy.
The Nkisi plays the role of mediator between god and men, responsible, among the Songye, for protecting against various evils. The large specimens are the collective property of an entire village, and the smaller figures belong to an individual or a family. In the 16th century, the Songyes migrated from the Shaba region to settle on the left bank of the Lualaba. Their society is organized in a patriarchal way. Their history is inseparable from that of the Luba, to whom they are ...

Architectural decoration in African art associated with Yoruba culture.
Among the Yoruba, public temples, altars or chiefs' huts are blessed with lintels, doors and carved pillars, decorative sculptures dedicated to the mythical gods "orisa" and supposed to attract their blessings. This post is carved with a female motif and a character who appears to be playing the flute. A polychrome mat coating highlights the different elements of the sculpture. Erosions.
Centered on the veneration of its gods, or orisà , the Yoruba religion is indeed based on artistic sculptures endowed with coded messages ( aroko ). They are designed by sculptors at the request of followers, diviners and their clients. These spirits are believed to intercede with the supreme god ...

African Dogon art.
Male figure with columnar bust standing on bent legs. Short, small arms frame the face. Grainy matte surface, cracks.
The African tribal statues of the Dogon may also be the object of worship by the entire community when they commemorate, for example, the founding of the village. These statues, sometimes embodying the nyama of the deceased, are placed on ancestor altars and participate in various rituals including those of the seed and harvest periods. Their functions, however, remain little known. The figures with raised arms always symbolized a prayer to Amma for the granting of the rain that is essential to all life, and it could also be a gesture of contrition following the violation of a law that led to a drought. The southern part of the plateau ...

Mask represented topped with an amulet like those that women inserted in their hair. It was used with Zamble and Zaouli, but is no longer used today. ("Guro", ed. 5Continents, pl.13) Numerous erosions.
Among the Mande group in the south, in central Côte d'Ivoire, on the banks of the Bandama, the Gouro are organized into lineages, and are the western neighbors of the Baoulé who have borrowed several features of their African tribal art creations. Animists, they have used since the 1950s a family of masks associated with the Zaouli dance. Indeed like the African Goli masks of the Baule, the set of Guro masks, relating to the genies of nature, comes in two zoomorphic masks followed by a third anthropomorphic one, which is considered the wife of the zamblé mask, the Gu. Priest ...

Prestige spoon with anthropomorphic handle. The carved motif symbolizing an ancestor refers to the creation, when the first Makonde man would have carved a female image who became the mother of his children and who has been revered ever since. Matt patina, lacks, small accidents.
Height on base: 47 cm.
The Makonde, a matrilineal Bantu people of northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania, wore helmet masks called lipiko, mapiko, during initiation ceremonies for young people . The Makonde venerate an ancestor, which explains the abundance of relatively naturalistic female statuary. In addition to face masks, midimu, the Makonde also produce body masks featuring the female bust, exalting fertility.

African Mask Kakongo or Vili. This type of mask would have been the prerogative of the nganga, diviner-priest. Thick matte polychrome patina. Cracks and abrasions.
Height on base: 47 cm.
These mediating masks, also present in initiation processes, were used by witch doctors during healing rituals. At the same time, they were also used to identify individuals who, through their actions, could disturb the harmony of the community. In the 13th century, the Kongo people, led by their king Ne Kongo, settled in a region at the crossroads of the borders between the current DRC, Angola and Gabon. The "ntotela" king controlled the appointment of court and provincial officials.

Heavy stylized mask associated with monkey. The projecting forehead, flanked by ears, houses a concave space incised with slits for the eyes. Horizontal elements indicate the jaw. Oiled, velvety surface.
Erosions.
The Ko mask of the Dogon is one of three types of monkey masks: Dege figures a baboon, and the Ko and Omono masks depict thrush monkeys .
The monkeys feed on the fruit of the baobab tree and the ears of millet that they steal from the fields. This tribal mask was worn with a skirt made of sansevière fibers that concealed the dancer . The dancer's choreography was accompanied by warnings.
More than eighty types of Dogon masks are listed, of which the best known are the Kanaga, Sirigé, Satimbé, Walu. Most of them are used by the circumcised ...