African Arts Gallery

Belgian collection of African tribal art The Kuba are renowned for the refinement of the prestige objects created for members of the high ranks of their society. The Lele live to the west of the Kuba kingdom and share common cultural specificities with the Bushoong of the Kuba country. Both groups decorate 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 motifs similar to those of embroidered textiles. This is a small cup in which the ingredients of remedies or the elements of ritual anointings were crushed. Glossy patina of use. Minor accidents.

Sculpture depicting subjects surrounding a lidded receptacle intended for votive offerings, gifts for visitors, or even divination. Sculptures of this type decorated the palaces of the Yoruba country. The characters evoke minor gods or ancestors.
Centered on the veneration of its gods, or orisà , the Yoruba religion is based on artistic sculptures with coded messages ( aroko ). These spirits are believed to intercede with the supreme god Olodumare.
Linear scarifications mark the faces of the figures in order not only to increase their physical beauty, but also to identify the rank or origin of their bearer. Body marks could be permanent or temporary, such as tattoos made from the juice of insects or plants, especially for court dignitaries or the king himself. Grainy matte ...

Cylindrical container mboko intended for kaolin in relation to purity and the spiritual world. These containers were used by different Luba societies, and groups of prophets, more generally by the mediums of the Kilumbu, Bilumbu divination society, or by the healers of the society. Buhabo . It was a question, individually or collectively, of consulting the spirits of the ancestors through specialists. Matte patina, abrasions.

The Lubas (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 "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 ...

An object of daily use associated with rituals, this type of high cephalomorphic cup accompanied divination rites, pacts and various ceremonies. Like their Kuba neighbors, the Lele have a wide variety of ceremonial African sculptures, including a variety of figurative containers.
Grainy matte patina, ocher residue, shine at the base. br /> The Kuba are renowned for the refinement of prestige objects created for members of the high ranks of their society. Several Kuba groups produced anthropomorphic objects with refined designs including cups, drinking horns and goblets. The Lele are established in the west of the Kuba kingdom, at the confluence of the Kasai and Bashilele rivers. Intercultural exchanges between the Bushoong of Kuba territory and the Lele have made the ...

Collection of Belgian African art
Used daily and during divination rites, pacts, ritual ceremonies, this container offers curved sides highlighted by a large frieze. Slight chips on the edges. Dark, smooth slip. Satin black patina, minor chips.

Ex-Belgian African art collection.
Container of great sobriety of the Djenne type, whose orange slip shows through under a thin beige film. The edges of the neck are slightly damaged.
As the old Djenne sites are all in a flood zone, deeds emerge when the waters recede, the inhabitants sometimes discovering them by chance.
In the Mali Empire, terracotta sculptures with red engobe had a funerary connotation.

French collection of African art.
Offering bowls, some of which were used to hold kola nuts or other gifts for visitors, were once placed in the royal palaces of the Ekiti and Igbomina regions of Yorubaland. Caryatid sculptures incorporating lidded containers, arugba, symbolizing the world and its masculine-feminine component were also erected on Yoruba altars. The Yoruba religion is indeed based on artistic sculptures with coded messages ( aroko ). These spirits are believed to intercede with the supreme god Olodumare .
Some subjects also represent flutists in reference to certain divinities associated with divination.
Matte patina of use, erosions, losses and cracks of desiccation. (source: "Yoruba", B.Lawal, 5 continents)

Mipasi ancestor figure of African tribal art whose face bears the facial scarifications of the Batabwa clans. This prestigious object serves as a palm wine cup dedicated to ceremonial rites.
Smooth black patina, reddish reflections. Minor erosions.
In the South-East of the DRC, around Lake Tanganyika, simple farmers without centralized power, the Tabwa, federated around tribal chiefs after coming under the influence of the Luba. It was mainly during this period that their artistic current was expressed mainly through statues but also masks. The Tabwa practiced ancestor worship to which they dedicated some of their statues. Animists, their beliefs are anchored around the ngulu, spirits of nature present in plants and rocks.

Anthropomorphic cup decorated with numerous refined details. Glossy brown patina, minor crack.
The Kuba and the tribes established between the Sankuru and Kasai rivers are renowned for the refinement of prestigious objects created for members of the high ranks of their society. They indeed produced anthropomorphic ceremonial objects with refined designs including palm wine cups or poison oracles, drinking horns and goblets. A people from Central Africa established in Kasai, neighboring the Kuba, the Ndengese form one of the clans descended from a common Mongo ancestor, some of them originating from the Upper Nile. They produced primitive art statues with absent or truncated lower limbs, covered with graphic symbols, symbolizing the prestige of the leader.
Ref.: “Treasures ...

Ex-Belgian collection of African art.
Small pear-shaped container with a cap, intended to contain powder for wooden rifles. This black powder was imported from Europe, making it a luxurious commodity carefully preserved. This powder, to which magical virtues were also attributed, often complemented the ingredients of ritual fetishes. Decorative motifs are engraved on the sides of the object. Matte brown patina.
The Solongo cultures of Angola and Yombé were largely influenced by the Kongo kingdom from which they borrowed the naturalist statuary and religious rites, in particularly by means of carved fetishes nkondo nkisi.

Ref. : “Maternity in black African art” Massa; “Tribal Art of Black Africa” Bacquart.

Offering container with a lid and topped with a head. Miniature figures follow one another in relief on the contours. Thick velvety kaolin patina. Slight chips.
The Ewe, often confused with the Minas, are the largest ethnic group in Togo. They are also found as minorities in Ghana, Benin, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. According to Hélène Joubert, the cults paid to the Yoruba gods, the orisha, and those of the Vodou gods, vodun, as well as their religious structure, are comparable in many respects. Slaves from different cultures further exported their practices to Cuba and Brazil. Although there is little historical information about the Ewe, it seems that their settlement in their current location resulted from invasions and conflicts that broke out during the 17th century.

French collection of African art.
Offering cups, some of which were used to store kola nuts or other gifts for visitors, were once placed in the royal palaces of the Ekiti and Igbomina regions of Yoruba country. However, caryatid sculptures incorporating lidded containers, arugba, symbolizing the world and its masculine-feminine component were also erected on Yoruba altars. The Yoruba religion is indeed based on artistic sculptures with coded messages ( aroko ). These spirits are supposed to intercede with the supreme god Olodumare .
Some subjects also represent flutists in reference to certain divinities associated with divination.
Matte pinkish beige patina, erosions and desiccation cracks. (source: "Yoruba", B.Lawal, 5 continents)

Object of curiosity taking the shape of a teapot resting on a disc, this ovoid container is decorated with motifs of snakes and stylized subjects with raised arms, friezes of wavelets, spiral motifs, all relative to Dogon myths. Irregular ocher brown patina.
The Dogon are a people renowned for their cosmogony, their esotericism, their myths and legends. Their population is estimated at around 300,000 souls living southwest of the Niger bend in the Mopti region of Mali (Bandiagara, Koro, Banka), near Douentza and part of northern Burkina (northwest of Ouahigouya). ).The Dogon blacksmith artisans, forming an endogamous caste called irim, today produce weapons, tools, and also work wood. “Masters of fire”, they are also supposed to treat burns (Huib Blom).

Decorated with a frieze of parallel grooves and diamonds, this ancient container from East Africa was designed by a nomadic people. The latter was particularly decimated by the Islamic slave trade and by recurrent infighting. Population groups called "Bantous interlacustres", located between Lake Victoria and the Limpopo River, include the Ganda , Nyoro, Nkole, Soga, Toro, Hima, and the Tutsi of Rwanda and Burundi. Their cultures have similarities, as do their artistic production and their everyday objects.
Apart from the prestigious vases created by the potter in the service of the king, named kujona , The Ganda of Uganda also produce containers for everyday use, such as this object patinated by use and equipped with a woven lid. Desication crack.

African sculpture depicting a woman sitting cross-legged. She embodies the ancestor associated with fertility cults. It forms the lid of a small box.
A subgroup of the Kongo ethnic group, the Yombe, established on the west African coast, in the southwest of the Republic of Congo and in Angola, are characterized by a statuary in which various maternity figures abound. The Solongo cultures of Angola and Yombé were largely influenced by the Kongo kingdom from which they borrowed naturalistic statuary and religious rites by means of sculpted nkondo nkisi fetishes.

Matte brown patina.

Ref. : “Maternity in black African art” Massa; “Tribal Art of Black Africa” Bacquart.

Private African art collection.
Harvested in the 1950s by Monsieur Arnaud, accompanying Alain Bilot,
renowned collector of Dogon art during study stays in Mali.

Four figures of ancestors or chiefs of lineage, whose feet disappear in a circular tray symbolizing the axis of the world, support a hollowed out cup. The latter is slightly off-center. The hands of the figures rest on their knees, and two of them wear masks. Scabby deposits bear witness to libatory rites. Rough, crusty surface.
Sculpted for the most part on commission by a family, Dogon statues can ...

This container, which closes with a lid with anthropomorphic motifs, was linked to the Ifa cult created by the Oyo of Nigeria, in relation to the Egungun and Sango societies. The flutists recall Esu/Elegba, messenger and master of the crossroads.
Used for divination by the priest of Ifa, this pot is decorated with subjects symbolizing various deities or orishas.
Matte patina. Erosions, old restoration (wicker link).
The Yoruba, more than 20 million, occupy southwest Nigeria and the central and southeastern region of Benin under the name of Nago. They are patrilineal, practice excision and circumcision. The kingdoms of Oyo and Ijebu were born following the disappearance of the Ifé civilization and are still the basis of the political structure of the Yoruba . The Oyo ...

Vase with a neck showing a human head with large ears. Sets of incised motifs decorate the sides, which show female attributes. Brown slip with reddish glints. Abrasions. Related to the Mangbetu and Zande, the Boa inhabit the savannah in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their anthropomorphic figures were undoubtedly used as part of rites charged with combating the witchcraft of the ndoki society. They are known for their mask with oversized ears, perforated like the ear pavilions of the Eastern Boa, the "bavobongo ". It gave an impressive appearance to its wearer, accentuated by the contrast of colors. The African art mask kpongadomba of the Boa was ordered by the chief kumu who offered it to the most valiant warrior. It was then kept in the hut of his wife. Some ...

Ex Italian African tribal art collection.
Vase whose neck features a human head with large pierced ears. A double frieze of geometrical patterns is printed on the sides.
Formerly referred to as " Niam-Niam " because they were considered anthropophagous, the tribes grouped under the name Zande , Azandé , came from Chad to settle on the border of the D.R.C. (Zaire), Sudan and the Central African Republic. According to their beliefs, man is endowed with two souls, one of which is transformed upon his death into the animal-totem of the clan to which he belongs. The African tribal art of the Zande, or "those who own a lot of land", apart from their court art composed of spoons, receptacles, pipes and harps, counts two types of statues : Kudu statues between 30 and 50 cm high ...

Jar with a human figurative motif, adorned with a juxtaposition of checkerboards, and a face on which are inscribed the traditional scarifications formerly in use among the Lwena.
Dark brown slip.
Of Lunda origin, the Lwena (or even Lovale , or Luvale ) emigrated from Angola to Zaire in the 19th century, pushed back by the Chokwe. Some became slave traders, others, the Lovales, found refuge in Zambia and near the Zambezi in Angola. Their society is matrilineal, exogamous and polygamous. The Lwena have become known for their honey-colored sculptures, embodying figures of deceased ancestors and chiefs, and their masks linked to the initiation rites of the mukanda.

African statuette enclosing the abdominal cavity into which magical ingredients were introduced. The subject forms the lid of a small box. Matte brown patina, drying crack..
A clan of the Kongo group, the Yombe are established on the west African coast, in the southwest of the Republic of Congo and in Angola. Their statuary includes remarkable maternity wards. The Vili, the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembé, 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 with codified gestures in relation to their vision of the world.

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