African Arts Gallery

The African mask Mbole appears on stage during the funerals of Lilwa dignitaries or is used by the blacksmith during circumcision rituals. Flat, oval in shape, it offers discreet reliefs accentuating the eyebrow line that is enhanced by contrasting shades. Height on base: 38 cm.
The Lualaba province had several closely related ethnic groups with similar associations. The Mbole and the Yela are known for their statues embodying, according to D. Biebuck, hanged men, called ofika. The lilwa, an association with dogmatic initiation rites, had the custom of judging and condemning to hanging those guilty of infractions of the imposed rules, which nevertheless remained exceptional. These offences ranged from murder to adultery to breaking the secret surrounding the lilwa. Dishonoured, the ...

Prestige sculptures in African tribal art. An African female figure would form the "receptacle of a deceased sovereign chief" (Luba, Roberts). The prominent scarifications around the navel, "center of the world" associated with lineage, testify to notions of fertility. This type of miniature stool called lupona, or kioni, kipona, kiona, depending on the source, constitutes the meeting point of the sovereign, his people, and the protective spirits and ancestors, where past and present symbolically and spiritually mingle. It once formed the seat on which the king was enthroned. The seats were placed on leopard skins during the investiture of the new chief. It was only after sitting down that his speech took on a royal and divine character. Apart from these exceptional circumstances, the ...

Belgian collection of African art .
The pfemba or phemba maternity figures, symbols of the mythical ancestor, are associated with fertility cults. The child embodies the matrilineal transmission of power. The Yombe decorated their textiles, mats and loincloths, with patterns related to proverbs glorifying work and social unity. The patterns inscribed on the subject's bust echo the designs of the woven fabrics. Smooth two-tone mahogany/brown patina. Minor cracks and chips.
The Solongo cultures of Angola and Yombe were largely influenced by the Kongo kingdom, from which they borrowed naturalistic statuary and religious rites by means of sculpted fetishes nkondo nkisi.
The Yombe are established on the West African coast, in the southwest of the Republic of Congo and in ...

Plank mask whose only relief resides in a prominent forehead extended by an imposing triangular nose. The diamond-shaped mouth streaked with teeth is a particularity of certain eastern Kete masks.
Grainy matte patina, polychrome highlights, cracks.
The Kete, established between the Luba and the Songye, have intermingled with the Kuba and the Tschokwe and derive their subsistence from hunting, net fishing, and agriculture. Their matrilineal society worships nature spirits called mungitchi through offerings and incantations. Believing in reincarnation, they also fear a supreme god called mboom. The rituals of their initiation societies are different from those of the Kuba. Some Kete villages used to pay tax to the King of the Kuba. Groups borrowed masks from their neighbors ...

Ex-Belgian collection of African tribal art In use within clans living in the north of the Ituri region by the society of Nkunda diviners, this African mask called Nsembu is produced in male-female pairs. Pastillage refers to the animal world and the patterns that adorn bodies during initiatory rites.

Matte patina. Abrasions. Height on base: 52 cm.
The Kumu, Bakumu, Komo, live mainly in the North-East and the center in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their Bantu language is komo or kikomo. Several ethnic groups are closely intertwined, with similar associations: the Mbole, the Yela, the Lengola, and the Metoko. Their artistic production also presents great similarities with that of the Metoko and Lengola. Their divination masks were exhibited during the closing ...

French collection of tribal art.
According to R. Ballarini in "The Perfect Form" (p.182), this primitive African currency is associated with the prestige of Tikar chiefs. A sort of bowl with a long handle, it also has a chain extended by a spatula-shaped blade. Grainy brown-black patina.
The Tikar populate the western part of central Cameroon which is located within the dense secondary forest of medium altitude, along the Mbam. These black iron blades were used as currency but also for offerings, wedding dowries and for major festive and ceremonial occasions. "Before the colonial era, payments in Africa were never made using coins. Transactions were made using products considered valuable because they were rare, useful, or desirable: livestock, pieces of fabric , pearls, cowrie ...

The Luba are renowned for their statuary and in particular their neckrests and stools made up of a caryatid figure. The figures adorning this neckrest to preserve the complex headdress of its owner refer to Luba royalty and tutelary spirits. But neckrests were also used to support the heads of the deceased, and sometimes, according to Albert Maesen, buried in their place. Brown satin patina, abrasions.
The Luba (Baluba in Chiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is Katanga, more precisely the region of the Lubu River, hence the name (Baluba, which means “the Lubas”). They were born from a secession of the Songhoy ethnic group, under the leadership of Ilunga Kalala who killed the old king Kongolo who has since been revered in the form of a python. In the 16th century ...

This African mask Lega indicated the stage that its holder had reached within the Bwami, a learning society composed of different grades. Thick partially chipped kaolin patina. Desication cracks.
Within the Léga, the Bwami society, 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 during the 17th century, the Lega settled on the west bank of the Lualaba River in the DRC. The role of chief, kindi, is held by the oldest man in the clan, who must be the highest ranking. Social recognition and authority also had to be earned individually: the chief owed his selection to his heart (mutima), good character, intelligence, and irreproachable behavior. During ritual ...

Comparable to African sculptures Hemba, African sculptures kusu represent bearded subjects embodying chiefs or ancestors and offer a frontal posture, hands on the abdomen. Satin brown patina, gaps and cracks.
The Kusu established on the left bank of the Lualaba have borrowed the artistic traditions of the Luba and the Hemba and have a caste system similar to that Luba.
The singiti statues were preserved by the fumu mwalo and honored during ceremonies during which sacrifices were offered to them. Alongside the authority of hereditary chiefs, secret societies, male such as the bukazanzi, and female, the bukibilo, played a major role within the clan.

A source of inspiration for sculptors, wild and domestic animals also form the subjects of puppet masks such as this ancient and imposing animal figure of an ox or a cow which is extended by a handle.
Matte polychrome patina, erosions and desication cracks. Height on base: 61 cm.

The Bozo , fishermen and farmers for the most part, live in the northern part of the Bambara country in the interior delta of the Niger and still remain semi-nomadic today, moving their homes according to seasonal floods. Mande-speaking people, they speak Sorogama. Within their group, we distinguish the Sorko or Sorogo, the Hain, and the Tie. Besides their remarkable masks, the Bozo and the Bambara are famous for their puppets of various sizes and frequently articulated, exhibited during the ...

Represented in a posture associated with fertility and royalty, this African sculpture indicates that the secrets of royalty, bizila belong to women thanks to their role as political intermediaries and spiritual. The hairstyle was made of braids and copper wires. The so-called "ear-shaped" scarifications, "tactile mnemonic code", are recurrent. This type of figure was also used in the context of fertility rituals: young women lacking breast milk came to touch the chest of the statue in the hope of breastfeeding more abundantly.

Filmy patina, desication cracks.
The Luba (Baluba in Chiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is Katanga, more precisely the region of the Lubu River, thus the name (Baluba, which means “the Lubas”). The Luba have two main types ...

African mask Makonde embodying an ancestral spirit, depicting a face whose lip bears a labret.
The ancestors would return masked in order to mark their satisfaction following the initiation. The relief patterns refer to traditional Makonde tattoos and scarifications.
Smooth, velvety, golden beige patina. Desication cracks, slight losses.

The Makonde of northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania wore helmet masks called lipiko during initiation ceremonies for young people. The Makonde venerate an ancestor, which explains the abundance of naturalistic female statuary. Besides the face masks worn during mapiko dances and ngoma ceremonies that educate young people about the demands of marriage and family life. the Makonde also produce body masks featuring the female ...

The result of cooperation between the nganga, the sculptor and the client, this African statuette songye was loaded with bishimba elements and accessories intended to reinforce its action. Brown patina, cracks and losses.
The fetish Songye, protective sculpture Nkisi, nkishi (pl. mankishi), plays the role of mediator between gods and men. The large specimens are the collective property of an entire village, the smaller figures belong to an individual or a family. In the 16th century, the Songyes migrated from the Shaba region to settle in Kasai, Katanga and South Kivu. Their history is inseparable from that of the Luba, to whom they are related through common ancestors.

This large African maskof male type is said to be a variant of the mask of the royal ancestor Sachihongo worn by the circumcised young people of the Mukanda society at the end of their initiation of a period of of several months. In Zambia, mask traditions include a series of specific masks distinguished by their character, demeanor and physiognomy. Among the Chokwe, Luvale, Lunda, Luchasi and Mbunda of Zambia they are called makishi, (sing. likishi), while in Angola and D.R.C. they are known as makishi (sing. mukishi). The sculptor will not name the mask and its costume as such, but rather "the head", and the "body" to define the masked entity. The dancer, then embodying the ancestral spirit, will not be held responsible for his actions during the masked demonstrations. The likishi ...

This biteke fetish, devoid of arms, is coated with a clay agglomerate imprisoning three similar figures of reduced size. While sorcerers teke used a variety of sculptures dedicated to healing or protection, women also had them for the purpose of promoting their fertility or protecting their offspring. A native restoration was carried out on one of the feet, still covered with rubber.
Patine mate, black and ochre.
Andeblis between the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon, the Teké were organized into chiefdoms whose leader was often chosen from among the blacksmiths. The head of the family, mfumu , had the right to life or death over his family whose importance determined his prestige. The clan leader, gantsié , retained the great protective fetish ...

Among the Azande African art statues, there are Kudu statues representing ancestors and Yanda statues of lower dimension, in animal or human form, having an apotropaic role. With a particularly geometric design, this sculpture offers a semi-spherical head with oversized orbits. The barrel bust has protruding arms framing the outgrowth of the umbilicus. A thick cylindrical base prolongs the morphology. Mottled clear patina. Desication crack on the back, abrasions. br> Formerly designated under the name "Niam-Niam" because considered as cannibals, the tribes grouped under the name of Zande, Azandé, settled, coming from Chad, on the border of the R.D.C. (Zaire), Sudan and the Central African Republic. The name of their ethnic group means: "those who own a lot of land", an allusion to their ...

Displaying linear scarifications in checkerboards, this sculpted character also sports a headdress in small diamonds. His posture remains classic, hands symbolically placed on the abdomen, evoking the importance of lineage, transmission, and seat of knowledge. Smooth ocher brown patina.
The Luba dominated the Tabwa in the region along Lake Tanganyika, between Zaire and Zambia. "Tabwa" or "to be tied down" presumably refers to the system of slavery once practiced by Islamic merchants. The Tabwa then regained their independence thanks to the wealth provided by the ivory trade. Just as the influence of the Luba is perceptible in the societies and rites of the Tabwa, the Tanzanian tribes have also marked the Tabwa statuary with regard to geometric decorative motifs.

Figure of an ancestor from b>African tribal art displaying the facial and body scarifications of the Batabwa clans.
Patina of use smooth and satiny, cracks of desication.
The Tabwa ("scarify" and "write") constitute an ethnic group present in the South-East of the DRC, around Lake Tanganyika. The tribes of this region, such as the Tumbwe, worship the mipasi ancestors through sculptures held by chiefs or sorcerers. A magical charge (dawa) was frequently placed on top of the statues' heads. Soothsayers-healers used this type of object to reveal witchcraft and protect against malevolent spirits. Simple farmers without centralized power, the Tabwa federated around tribal chiefs after coming under the influence of the Luba. Animists, their beliefs are anchored around the ngulu, ...

African art and the founding myths of Bambara
This animal sculpture refers to the horse-antelope Ciwara ("wild beast of the earth") which is said to have taught agriculture to man. She would also have offered him the first cereal. The crest mask rests on a basketwork hat covered with textile. Matte brown patina.
Erosions.
Worn on the top of the head, these crests accompanied the dancers during the rituals of the tòn, an association dedicated to agricultural work. The masks traveled the field by leaping in order to chase away from it the nyama, evil scents, and to detect any danger, or to flush out the evil spirits that could delight the soul of the cultivated plants as well as the life force of their seeds.

Established in central and southern Mali, the ...

The vernacular term "Asen" comes from the verb "sé" or to render one's duties, expresses the concept of offering, of worship. This type of altar is also found among the Ewes of Togo where it is called "Assanyi". The Yoruba of neighboring Nigeria used similar sticks, decorated with emblems representing birds, intended for diviners. These objects were used during divination ceremonies linked to the god of herbalists and occult sciences, Osanyin, or to the god of divination, Orunmila. Placed in the family courtyard, it allows one to pay homage to the deceased and thereby to the family lineage. Made of iron, the upper scene glorifies the deceased in a scene where he distinguished himself during his life. The rituals linked to these altars took place during ceremonies called "ahanbiba", ...

In the Uele region of northwestern Congo, stools come in a variety of shapes and have a variety of functions. The many groups inhabiting this region were influenced by the Mangbetu and the Zande, and chiefs and dignitaries, as well as initiates of secret societies, had such seats. This heavy stool has a concave circular seat engraved with decorative motifs. Four square uprights, arising from a reduced circular base, support the curved top. Satin patina, minor accidents.