Tribal Art

Jan Putteneers African Art Collection.

Usual object but also ceremonial, he accompanied the Chokwe who wore it as a pendant, which helped polish their surface. The sculpted head could represent a head wearing the crown chipangula. Two small side holes have been fitted out for sound.
Played together, whistles, produced in large numbers, were used both during dances and hunting to call dogs but also to war. Thanks to the few sounds they made, information was exchanged from one place to another.
The Chokwé have become known in the Western world for their works of art, which are highly appreciated in the general context of African art.
The sculpted face of the founding hero Tshibinda Ilunga is recognized on this piece. This central character has a very special ...

Container formed from the dried fruit of the calabash tree, on which a carved wooden stopper has been fitted. The head is encrusted with pearls representing the eyes, and oversized ears frame the pulled back hairstyle. Braided raffia strap.
The Luo, Kuria, Haya and Ziba, the Kéréwé, Karagwé, Sukuma and Nyamézi are established in the center west and the central region of Tanzania. The Nyamwezi, Nyamézi,("western people" and sometimes "moon people ") form the largest group among the tribes living in north central Tanzania. Coming from diverse origins, although sharing the same cultural specificities, their ritual and artistic production consequently presents very different formal aspects. The cult of ancestors and chiefs, of major importance within their culture, marked their ...

Aimed at the orisa (Yoruba god) Osanyin associated with herbal therapy, this stick was intended for the soothsayer or healer. Welded to a central pole that was planted in earth, two stems support a circular platform with a stage. It consists of patterns of birds, symbolizing divination, and bells cut out of metal sheets. The summit figure depicts a bird with outstretched wings, trimmed with pendeloques, which, laid flat, forms like a small protective parasol, like a bulwark against the evil powers. Shed the Yoruba of the Nigeri , these type of sticks were emblems featuring birds. Aimed at the soothsayers, they were used for divination ceremonies related to the god of herbalists and occult sciences, Osanyin supposedly working in concert with that of divination, Orunmila.
These is in ...

The Noupés, Nupe, or Nuppé, live in the rich alluvial valleys in central Nigeria, at the confluence of the Niger and Kaduna.
They were defeated in 1860 by the Muslim Fulani. The Nuppé communities are made up of artisans working the same material. The wood carvers also make furniture whose ornamentation is inspired by traditional Fulani art.
This box-shaped sculpture with curved sides and whose handle takes the shape of a hornbill beak is a pestle. A similar copy is presented on page 266 of the book "Arts of Nigeria in French private collections" published by 5Continents.
Very beautiful glossy patina, small accidents, abrasions.

Support of the ritualist named babalawo (or Babalao, or Babaal-wo, pronounced Baba-a-l'wo), priest of Ifa, in the Yoruba language, these trays exist in three forms. They are intended for ifa, a system of divination that represents the teachings of the orisha Orunmila, orisha of Wisdom. The babalawo claim to be securing the future through their communication with Orunmila. In Yoruba thought in Nigeria, orishas form a variety of divine spirits controlling natural forces. They are found mainly in Yoruba cosmogony but more widely in East West Africa in the diasporas of Central and South America. This tablet was used in Abomey, among the Yorubas of Benin.The center of the plateau, aarin opon , forms a picture in which the dust of wood allows the priest-soothsayer to trace the solutions to his ...

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.

The ritual consumption of palm wine from an individual cup, Kopa, Koopha, was the prerogative of the lineage head or matrilineal supreme head during certain ceremonies, such as a marriage. It was then passed on to the next generation. This yaka-type dish, which included regalia, prestigious objects symbolizing status and reserved for the chieftaincy, offers symbols carved in high relief. Similar models named koopha were used by the Yaka ( Fig.6 p.17 in "Yaka" ed. 5Continents. ) Glossy mahogany patina.
The Suku and Yaka ethnic groups, established in a region between the Kwango and Kwilu rivers, in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo, recognize common origins and have certain similar social structures and cultural practices. The presence of Holo and Kongo among them in ...

"Mboko cup-bearing" statues frame this game of the awalé type from the mancala family. The apron is hollowed out with twenty-four cells, laid out in four rows. Stones, seeds, pebbles or even shells formed the pawns. Matte light brown patina, abrasions and slight chips.

Among Kongo chiefs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the crucifix stood as a symbol of power and authority among chieftaincy regalia. A ceremony at the investiture of the chief required that the future ruler receive from the hands of a dignitary, in a codified ritual, a nkangi kiditu . This badge of power, inspired by ancient Christian crucifixes imported by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, could also have a therapeutic function, and, in addition to various uses, was brandished at funeral ceremonies during which the object was subjected to libations of oil or palm wine.
The cross would not be a motif specific to the Christian world, as the Kongo considered the four branches to ...

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.

This three-foot basket was used to collect Injera, a kind of spongy crepe characteristic of Ethiopian cuisine. Generally they are made from a fermented seed from a local grass on Teff or Fonio.
Everying among Oromos, the pancake was made from corn flour or millet.
The object has a basket frame whose outer surface has then been draped in animal skin, which also constitutes the transport strips.

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.

A badge of prestige for the Gogo men, a neighboring group of the Maasai in Tanzania, these cephalomorphic-handled scepters symbolize power and courage. They are raised daily.