Tribal Art

Sculpted with precision in dense wood, this prestigious stick depicting the female ancestor would intervene on human fertility, the fertility of the land, and successful hunts. The face refers to a type of mask linked to the Mukanda Mukishi wa Mwna pwo initiation ceremonies wearing the kambu ja tota ("Chokwe and Their Bantu Neighbors" Rodrigues de Areia.) Reddish patina. Abrasions.
Of Lunda origin, the Lwena, Luena, emigrated from Angola to Zaire in the 19th century, repelled by the Chokwe. When some became slave traders, others, the Lovale, found refuge in Zambia. Their society is matrilineal, exogamous and polygamous. The Lwena became known for their sculptures embodying figures of deceased ancestors and chiefs, and their masks linked to the initiation rites of the mukanda . Their ...

Ex. collection African art Mercier.
This ancient and imposing African mask Baoulé, known as portrait mask, offers a lumpy matte patina resulting from ritual practices. Abrasions of use, lacks on the internal contours. Height on base: 66 cm.
These idealized portrait masks of the Baoulé, ndoma (or "double", "copy") which celebrate a character, have the particularity of appearing at the end of entertainment dance ceremonies. These are named, depending on the region, bedwo , ngblo , mblo , adjussu , etc.... The clothes of the dancer could also be those of the person evoked, the latter also dancing at his side.

The wearer of this type of mask must have consumed ebanza, a hallucinogenic bark, with the aim of inducing a trance to develop mediumistic abilities. Songs accompanied his appearance. Cracks, aureoles, erosions, indigenous restorations (staples).
Height on base: 44 cm.
Neighboring tribe of the Pounou or Punu , the Tsogo , Mitsogo traditionally farmers (slash-and-burn agriculture), matrilineal, are renowned for their very elaborate rituals of religious practice, and particularly of initiation, including the bwiti or the mwiri for men, and the nyembe for women. They live on the right bank of the Ngoumé River. The function of their African masks is essentially the propitiation of the spirits of the ancestors. Their masks are kept at the back of the ebanza house ...

The Igbo-Afikpo Distortion in African Art
Symbolizing courage, this African mask named "the time of the brave" brings together zoomorphic elements. Among the forest-dwelling Igbo in southeastern Nigeria, these aggressive masks, often accompanied by a motley array of quills, raffia, palm fronds and weapons, perform in spectacular festivals during the dry season, the most famous being the okumkpa, and certain funerals. The larger ones are worn by mature male initiates of the Ekpo society. Each of the mask wearers embodies a spirit whose name the mask adopts.
Thick dark patina, scattered chips and abrasions, desiccation cracks. Colored highlights.

Declined in tubular volumes, this African Dogon sculpture represents a mythical being, or an ancestor devoid of facial features. The head evokes, among the Dogons, the egg of the world created by the word of the god Amma. A disc forms the shoulders, extended by slender arms, one of which points to the sky. The Dogon decorative motifs, in broken lines and rings, associated with scarifications and traditional myths, are engraved on the whole. Medium brown patina. Minor erosions and cracks.

Carved for the most part on order placed by a family, the Dogon statues can also be the object of worship on the part of the whole community. However, their functions remain little known. Alongside Islam, Dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the Lébé, relating to ...

The African art of the Byeri cult is illustrated by various anthropomorphic sculptures acting as "guardians" and embodying the ancestor.
Container in the shape of a column, the lid of which is carved with a motif in the round associated with the ancestors of the clan. Brown nuanced lustrous patina. Cracks.

Among the Fang, 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 stored in a dark corner of the hut, supposed to divert evil influences towards someone else. They were also used during initiation ceremonies for young people linked to the "So" society. During festivals, the statues were separated from their boxes and ...

Dogon sculpture with a rectangular, geometric and refined aspect. The weapon the horseman wielded is missing. Beautiful velvety light brown patina of use, desication cracks and abrasions.
The frequent representations of riders among the Dogon of Mali refer to their cosmogony and their complex religious myths. Indeed, one of the Nommos, ancestors of men, resuscitated by the creator god Amma, is said to have descended to earth carried by an ark transformed into a horse. In addition, the highest authority of the Dogon people, the religious leader named Hogon, paraded on his mount during his enthronement because according to custom he was not to set foot on the ground. In the region of the cliffs of Sangha, inaccessible on horseback, the priests wore it, while neighing in reference ...

The lower part of the face of this Punu mask, here devoid of clan motifs, stands out from the cheek mat extending a hairstyle in shells. Carved in a soft wood, this mask offers an abraded matte patina. Erosions, gaps.
Height on base: 48 cm. The white African masks of Gabon, itengi, (pl. bitengi) were associated with the various secret societies of Gabon, including the Bwiti, Bwete, and the Mwiri ("to lead" ), the latter being spread over several levels of initiation, to which all the Punu men belonged, and whose emblem was the caiman (hence, for some, the pattern with saurian scales). The mask, evocation of a deceased young woman, was exhibited during the dance named Okuyi. The powerful secret societies, which also had a judicial function, featured several dances, including the ...

African tribal art royal Bambara.
This slender sculpture features a seated Bambara queen, supporting a sagging chest. The prognathic, equine jawbone forms the particularity of this African statue. Grainy gray patina, light runs.
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 oil. They also adorn them with necklaces to activate their magical power.

The body of this rare statuette is made up of three vertical elements to which are added small arms, the projection of the forehead as a visor, and the phallus. Feathers are clustered on the matte surface enhanced with polychrome pigments.
Despite their small number, the thirty thousand Mambila (or Mambila, Mambere, Nor, Torbi, Lagubi, Tagbo, Tongbo, Bang, Ble, Juli, Bea)(the "men", in Fulani), settled in the northwest of Cameroon, created a large number of masks and statues easily identifiable by their heart-shaped faces. Although the Mambila believe in a creator god named Chang or Nama, they only worship their ancestors. Their leaders were buried in granaries like wheat as they were believed to symbolize prosperity. Masks and statues were not to be seen by women.

These ancient, lustrous sculptures, embodying twins, are depicted naked, perched on circular bases. One of them is wearing anklets. Renewed ritual anointings have left solidified residues of a light hue. Desication cracks, abrasions from use.
In the language of the Yoruba people, ibeji means twin: ibi for born and eji for two. They represent the figure of a deceased twin. This ibedji is then treated as the missing child would have been. 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 continuing to send him prayers and to devote worship and libations to him.
The occurrence of twinning is, among the Yoruba, relatively frequent. This particularity therefore naturally influenced and ...

Subject of indeterminate sex, corpulent and wearing a crown of cowries, whose posture of the feet towards the back forms the strange specificity. The bust is swaddled in fabric underlined by a belt made up of canvas sausages embellished with shells. The ends of a double raffia cord enclosing the neck extend over the bust and back. Rough gray patien. Grainy residual deposits.
The multitude of fon gods (the vodun) associated with the voodoo cult or vodun, a religious cult whose name comes from a variant of the Yoruba word meaning "god", is represented by fetishes of all shapes and types. Their sanctuaries are found in Togo, Dahomey, and western Nigeria. Statuettes embodying the legba, protectors of the home, are often added to them. The faithful administer daily offerings and ...

The "inverted doubles" in tribal art Baule sculptures
Old sculpture Blobo bia , or bloblo bla , embodying an idealized spiritual spouse, and which depicts a woman adopting the traditional posture, hands enhancing the umbilical region. Matte patina of partially chipped kaolin. Flaw at the base.
About sixty ethnic groups populate Côte d'Ivoire, including the Baoulé, in the center, Akans from Ghana, people of the savannah, practicing hunting and agriculture just like the Gouro from whom they borrowed ritual cults and masks carved. Two types of statues are produced by the Baoulé , Baulé , within the ritual framework: The Waka-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 ...

This crestless figure, an attribute of Mossi women, is established on long curved legs. The narrowness of the shoulders, extended by the arms spaced from the trunk, contrasts with the hips, which gradually flare out from the arched bust. Traditional linear scarifications stand out on the head. These carvings have become rarer due to their owners' conversions to Islam. The patina usually comes from renewed applications of shea butter. The Mossi chiefs have prestigious statues gathered in the house of ancestral spirits, and those of the soothsayers, representing ancestors, have a sacrificial patina. Beautiful patina of use, desication cracks. Ocher residual pigments.
Upper Volta, Burkina Faso since independence, is made up of the descendants of the invaders, horsemen who came from ...

"Mbumba Bwiti" of a very particular type, the basketwork basket which constitutes the reliquary being arranged downwards (upper part of the basket with bones?). The Mitsogho ethnic group, Sogho, is established in a forest region on the right bank of the Ngoumé River, Ngounié, near the Kwele. Bwiti society, which has a system of reliquaries comparable to that of the Fang and the Kota, formed the cohesion of the Mitsogho matrilineal clans. Their masks were exhibited at funerals, and stored in the ebanza male initiation house. Like the other ethnic groups of Gabon, they practice the rites of the Bwiti which would have spread in this way among the coastal peoples. Their sculptural production is varied, in the form of statues, masks, reliquary guardians, pillars, doors and panels, musical ...

Perched on thick blocks, the subject offers a glazed gaze whose black pupil is dilated. The nails and blades dotting his bust attest to the agreements made; the magical charge inserted into the adomen is believed to increase its mystical strength. Grey-brown patina, erosions and desication cracks.
Among the Kongo, the nganga was responsible for rituals by activating a spiritual force with a nkondi (pl. nkissi). The term nkisi was then used to designate the notions of "sacred" or "divine". The most influential category of "minkisi kongo" consisted of instruments intended to help regional chiefs to enforce the law, each nail evoking a particular case: litigants, divorce, conflicts between communities... The nkondi thus wanted ensure that the agreement to settle the conflict was well ...

Uncommon variant of the tsogho mask, with a rectangular face topped with a single shell. The arch of the eyebrows, ample, overhangs the features concentrated on the flat face. Cracks, aureoles, erosions.
Neighboring tribe of the Pounou or Punu , the Tsogo , Mitsogo traditionally farmers (slash-and-burn agriculture), matrilineal, are renowned for their very elaborate rituals of religious practice, and particularly of initiation, including the bwiti or the mwiri for men, and the nyembe for women. They live on the right bank of the Ngoumé River. The function of their African masks is essentially the propitiation of the spirits of the ancestors and divination through the use of hallucinogenic medicinal plants. Their masks are kept at the back of the ebanza house where ...

This ancient African Dogon mask refers to the hippotrague antelope. The backward curved horns are reminiscent of the walu, an animal linked to the Dogon cosmogony. The cubic and partitioned face, pierced with asymmetrical pupils, reveals a narrow mouth. Locally chipped crusty dry patina. 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 following bereavement. It was originally to protect themselves from the "nyama" (soul) of the victim that the Dogon carved a mask in the image of ...

Housed in the ventral capsule blocked by a window of this kneeling figure, the bilongo (or bolongo), an amalgam of offensive or defensive magic ingredients, reinforces the powerful symbolism associated with the character's vengeful attitude. Indeed, not only does his devious face express an aggressiveness supported by the hollowed-out mouth and the trance gaze, but the detail of the dorsal ribs could indicate, according to W. MACGAFFEY in Treasures of Africa, a respiratory disease lubanzi.
Abrasions of the crusty polychrome patina.

The Vili, the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembé, the Bwende, the Yombé and the Kôngo formed the group Kôngo , led by King ntotela. Their kingdom reached its peak in the 16th century with the ivory, copper and slave trade. Similarly, beliefs ...

Among the wide variety of African masks Punu, this copy without scarification is topped with double shells framed with braids. These white masks from Gabon called bitengi (sing.: itengi) were performed especially at funerals and during the initiations of young boys. Matte patina. Abrasions, lacks.
Height on base: 47 cm.
The masks of the Punu 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, to which all Punu men belonged, and whose the emblem was the caiman. The Punus did not involve any mask in Bwiti rituals, unlike the Tsogo. These powerful secret societies, which also had a judicial function, included several dances, including the leopard dance, the Esomba, ...

Subject anchored on a circular base, presenting a cut. The integumentary ornaments of the sculpted character, meticulously engraved, express the concept of beauty of the Baoulé, constant in traditional African art: numerous scarifications in checkerboards and sophisticated hairstyle. Black satin patina, desiccation cracks.
About sixty ethnic groups populate Côte d'Ivoire, including the Baoulé, in the center, Akans from Ghana, people of the savannah, practicing hunting and agriculture just like the Gouro from whom they borrowed ritual cults and masks carved. Two types of statues are produced by the Baoulé, Baulé, within the ritual framework: The Waka-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 ...