Tribal Art

Within the very refined figurative sculpture of the Kuba groups, the prestigious objects held by members of the royal family and the Bushoong and Dengese, are always decorated with traditional motifs. Similar motifs also adorn the diviner's accessories, such as this divination instrument without its pusher. These tools, used to solve various problems, take up animal motifs associated with ngesh (spirits of nature) but also human motifs referring to ancestors and masks, as is the case here. Beautiful satin mahogany brown patina. Height on base: 38 cm.
The Kuba kingdom or "lightning people" was founded in the 16th century by the main tribe Bushoong which is still ruled today by a king, and whose capital was Nshyeeng or Mushenge. The Lele are established in the west of the Kuba ...

Supports of the ritualist named babalawo (or Babalao, or Babaaláwo, pronounced Baba-a-láwo), priest of Ifa, in the Yoruba language, these trays are most often made of wood. This beaded example is rarer. It is intended for Ifa, a system of divination which represents the teachings of the orisha Orunmila, orisha of Wisdom. The babalawo claim to secure the future through their communication with Orunmila. In Yoruba thought in Nigeria and in those of Benin, the orishas form a variety of divine spirits controlling natural forces. They are found mainly in the Yoruba cosmogony but more widely in West Africa and in the diasporas of Central and South America. The center of the board, aarin opon, forms a chart in which kaolin powder (or flour) allows the diviner-priest to trace the solutions to his ...

Collection ofAfrican artBelgian.
The Kuba are renowned for the refinement of prestige objects created for members of the high ranks of their society. The Lélé live to the west of the Kuba kingdom and share common cultural specificities with the Bushoong of the Kuba country. Both groups adorn their prestige objects with similar motifs. The only ethnic group to create a variety of lidded containers in which individual goods were stored, the Kuba decorated them with designs similar to those on embroidered textiles. The walls of this box, equipped with a sculpted handle, are in fact finely chiseled with a network of geometric patterns. Golden brown patina. Very good state.

Beautiful balance for this African tribal sculpture, an element of African furniture that must preserve the voluminous traditional headdresses, characterized by its animal motif and its shiny patina.

Peacefully settled in eastern Angola until the 16th century, the Chokwé were then subjected to the Lunda empire, from which they inherited a new hierarchical system and the sacredness of power. Nevertheless, the Chokwé never fully adopted these new social and political contributions. Three centuries later, they ended up seizing the capital of the Lunda weakened by internal conflicts, thus contributing to the dismantling of the kingdom. The Chokwé did not have centralized power but large chiefdoms. They were the ones who attracted artists wishing to put their know-how at the ...

The dried fruit of the calabash tree, on which a wooden stopper has been adapted, composes this refined container. The pupils are encrusted with pearls and simple circular 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 statuary.

This functional adornment for archers was worn to the left to protect the forearm from bumps. In Rwanda, the Tutsi used a herb-covered pad, so wooden protections called igitembe were rare. Our model has an internal circumference of 8 cm, and has three rectangular metal inlays on each side. The surface of the wood is abraded by use. A crack runs through the center of the bracelet.
nomadic People, the Tutsi were particularly decimated by the Islamic slave trade and recurrent infighting. Population groups called "Bantous interlacustres", established between Lake Victoria and the Limpopo River, include the Ganda, Nyoro, Nkole, Soga, Toro, Hima, and the Tutsi Rwanda and Burundi. Their cultures have similarities, as do their artistic production and their everyday objects. The Tutsi raise ...

Object used among the Bakongo by warriors and hunting masters, the action of this bell would be endowed with magical properties, by driving away bad influences such as witchcraft, and by encouraging its owner and his dogs. The motif at the top, carved in the round, devoid of forearm, probably refers to a prisoner. Within the Khimba initiation society or the Lemba pacifying association among the Yombe, this same type of bell, emblem of dignitary power, was used during the manipulation and activation of a Nkisi by the diviner. or Nganga in order to challenge the ancestors.
Abrasions, slight loss.

The Vili, the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembe, the Bwende, the Yombé and the Kôngo formed the Kôngo group, led by King ntotela . Their kingdom reached its peak in the ...

Endowed with a morphology with both feminine and masculine characters, this statue is erected on a base overhanging a calotte mask. The semi-flexed legs, however, evoke the tribal dance mbombo of the young girls during the Ogbom ceremonies, held before the altar at the close of the periods of seclusion. This danced ritual was dedicated to the deity of the earth named Ala among the Igbo, and Isong among the Ibibio . The crest masks were then kept near the chimney flues of the huts in order to be protected from insects. Thick cracked patina, colored highlights, localized abrasions. Old break on the nose and cracks.
The Eket , established in southeastern Nigeria, are a subgroup of the Ibibio ethnic group renowned for their expressive masks. They are a patrilineal society whose ...

This blade is extended with a wooden pommel surrounded by a leather ribbon and then dyed black. The end of the blade flares. Oxidized metal, very beautiful patina of use.
The Mongo group living in northwestern Congo, is known for its costumes, weapons, and metal jewelry, not for its almost non-existent statuary. The Konda who used this type of short swords form one of the tribes of the group.
In Africa, before the colonial period, payments were never made in coins. Transactions were made using cauris, pearls, cattle, kola nuts, but also metals, including iron in particular. These primitive currencies were used in trade, social exchanges, for dowries in particular, but could also come from parade objects or throw weapons. In Sierra Leone, goods were valued against iron bars ...

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 .

Among the Kongo chiefs at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the crucifix was used, among the chiefly regalia, as a symbol of the power of authority. A ceremony during the investiture of the chief required that the future ruler receive from the hands of a dignitary, during a codified ritual, a nkangi kiditu. This badge of power, inspired by ancient Christian crucifixes imported by the Portuguese in the 16th century, could also have a therapeutic function, and, in addition to various uses, be brandished during funeral ceremonies during which the object was subjected to libations. palm oil or palm wine.
Height on base: 28 cm.
The cross is not a motif specific to the Christian world, the ...

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.

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

This game of the awalé type from the mancala family has a hollow deck of twenty-four cells, arranged in four rows. Stones, seeds, pebbles or even shells formed the pawns. The feet are formed of figurative motifs and sculpted subjects frame the whole. Black brown patina, cracks.
Among the Mangbetu, from an early age, children also suffered compression of the cranial box held tight by raffia ties. Later, young women "knit" their hair on wicker strands and apply a headband to the forehead in order to bring out the hair and constitute this particular headdress which accentuates the elongation of the head. Established in the forest in the northeast of Zaire, the Mangbetu kingdom produced architectural works that impressed European visitors in the 19th century. Their furniture, weapons, ...

African parade weapon from North East Africa.
Blade adhering to a hollow wooden shaft thanks to wickerwork fibers firmly wrapped around a section of the handle. 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.

Among the Nyangatom or "yellow guns" and the Toposa of the Omo Valley, women wore this type of triangle "hide-sex" apron called akwalac . Depending on the case, this garment-adornment which was adapted to the morphology of each one is made of animal skin and pearls of ostrich egg shells such as the model presented, the akwala na akirim, reserved for married women and paid for with small livestock. Some models feature metal beads, others in glass or plastic, and sometimes simultaneously.
Ref. : " Omo Peoples and Design" G. Verswijver, H.Silvester. Ed. de la Martinière, p. 47.

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.

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.

Sculpture whose curved center forms a support for divination techniques. Its janiform iconography, in relation to kifwebe masks, symbolizes a double question: with regard to the world of the living, and towards ancestors. Medium brown patina, desication cracks.

The Songye and the neighbouring ethnic groups share many institutions, including those related to divinatory rites. Thus in some areas luba songye-style sculptures were dedicated to divination techniques. The nganga will interpret the signs of movement of objects placed on the flat surface and rubbed on the support, in order to propose a solution to the misfortunes of its client.
Sye came from the Shaba region of the DRC and settled between the Lualaba River and the Sankuru River in the middle of the savannah and ...

Belgian African art collection.
Emblems of prestige, sculpted spoons are part of the regalia of African tribal art. This copy is distinguished by its anthropomorphic motif depicting a seated notable. This type of ritual object, an insignia of diginity, also evokes the power of the chief or the clan.

Height on base: 52 cm.
Glossy black-brown patina, desication cracks.
The Vili , the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembe, the Bwende, the Yombé and the Kôngo formed the Kôngo group, led by King ntotela . Their kingdom reached its peak in the 16th century with the trade in ivory, copper and the slave trade. With the same beliefs and traditions, they produced statuary endowed with codified gestures in keeping with their vision of the world.
Ref. :

"Execution" knives are also parade weapons, such as this ngulu whose wooden handle is wrapped with a copper strip. Each side has fine decorative hatching. In northwestern Zaire, south of the Ubangi,live the 6000 Moswea-Ngombe of Bantu language. Their neighbors are the Ngbandi and the Ngbaka and various banda groups. They knew no god but expected favors from their ancestors, among them health and prosperity. Their throwing knives used for hunting were used as currency.
See this site: For info