African Arts Gallery

Tribal sculpture that can be used as an African decorative object, this rectangular tray decorated with different heads in the image of Pende masks. Satin brown patina, minor cracks. The Western Pende settled along the banks of the Kwilu, while their eastern counterparts established their communities along the banks of the Kasai, downstream from Tshikapa. The Mbuya masks, made with striking realism and produced every ten years, have a mainly festive function, representing a range of characters including chiefs, diviners and their wives, prostitutes, possessed people, etc. The initiation masks and power masks, called minganji, represent the ancestors and are used during various ceremonies such as agricultural festivals, mukanda initiation and circumcision rituals, as well as during the ...

Heavy ceremonial axe, Songye or Nsapo, on which the blade displays a female subject with a masked face. The handle is adorned with copper strips decorated with sequences of upholstery nails. At its end, a gold-colored metal head makes the blade spring out. Height on the base: 43 cm, length 28 cm.
Originally from Shaba in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Songye are related to the Luba, with whom they share common ancestors. The Nsapo, a Songye subgroup that settled in the Lulua territory following wars with the Arabs, have been subject to various influences. Their ceremonial weapons were used to affirm the prestige of their leaders.

Pacific arts and protective statues of Rapa Nui.
Within the Polynesian triangle, in the Pacific Ocean, Dutch explorer Jakob Roggeveen discovered Rapa Nui in 1722 and renamed it Easter Island. Ritual ceremonies took place under the gaze of giant stone idols, moai aringa ora. Placed in family homes, sculpted figures evoking the living dead, such as this moai kavakava-type effigy adorning this comb, intervened during magical practices. Satin red-brown patina, minor losses and cracks.

Wooden cup carved in the shape of a horn. The relief motif, crouching subject and hands on the head, appears frequently in Kete Lulua sculpture. Object on its base: 25 cm.
Satin brown patina, cracks.
The Kete, established between the Luba and the Songye, have mixed 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 initiatory societies are different from those of the Kuba. Some Kete villages once paid a tax to the king of the Kuba. Groups borrowed masks from their neighbors or took certain features from them and combined them with ...

Belgian African art collection.
African tribal art proves to us once again that any everyday object can become an artistic medium. The decorative aspect of an object is never its intrinsic function. In African art, any everyday object can be transformed into a masterpiece while retaining its usefulness. The major role played by women in the political life of the kingdom is illustrated by the recurrence of the feminine motif in Luba art. The latter, which stood out for its prestige and quality, therefore greatly influenced neighboring groups. This comb is carved with a protective effigy embodying a political and spiritual intermediary, a role held by women in Luba royalty. Her headdress, behind a wide headband revealing a shaved forehead, evokes one of those worn by Luba women at ...

Considered a "bankishi", this African sculpture is said to be endowed, in the Luba culture, with powerful magical and apotropaic powers. These objects come in different forms, such as this female figure surmounting a set of small calabashes. The posture, hands positioned near the breasts, recalls that the secrets of royalty belong to women thanks to their role as political and spiritual intermediaries. This object was used in the context of the Bugabo association, linked to hunting, healing and combat. It was customary, during rituals, to fill the calabash with magical ingredients in order to strengthen its power. The ingredients used produced a sound when the object was shaken, and were only sealed at the end of the ceremony.
(Luba, Roberts)

This blade is extended by a pommel lined with copper. Oxidized metal, patina of use.

The Mongo group living in the northwest Congo, is famous for its costumes, its weapons, and its metal jewelry and not for its almost non-existent statuary. The Konda who used this type of short sword form one of the tribes of the group.
In Africa, before the colonial period, payments were never made in coins. Transactions were made using cowries, pearls, cattle, kola nuts, but also metals, especially iron. These primitive currencies were used during commercial and social exchanges, for dowries in particular, but could also come from objects of parade or throwing weapons. In Sierra Leone, goods were valued against iron bars called barriferri. In 1556 in Djenné Jean-Léon the African ...

A masculine attribute, the Ikula ("peace") knife is not a weapon but a symbol of social status. This symbol of authority was also very weak. Kuba blacksmiths may have taken inspiration from Benin knives, which have a similar shape, introduced by the Dutch. It was following a royal decree that wooden knives appeared, the king forbidding iron on full moon nights. The blade is engraved with braided patterns repeated on the handle. The handle is made of wood, in its center copper inlays form small checkerboards.
Several tribes make up the Kuba group, established between the Sankuru and Kasaï rivers: Bushoong, Ngeendé, Binji, Wongo, Kété, etc... Each of them produced a variety of sculptures, statues, prestigious objects, masks, frequently decorated geometric patterns.
The Kuba, ...

The Kirdi, or "pagans", as they are called by the Islamized peoples, are established in the far north of Cameroon, on the border with Nigeria.
They include the Matakam, Kapsiki, Margui, Mofou, Massa, Toupouri, Fali , Namchi, Bata, Do ayo... They live from agriculture, fishing and livestock breeding. They live in small independent hamlets. Renowned for their terracotta statuettes reminiscent of sao works, they are also known for small leather and metal objects, g-strings sewn with beads and also in iron.
In Africa, before the colonial period, payments were never made in coins. Transactions were made using cowries, pearls, cattle, kola nuts, but also metals, especially iron. These primitive currencies were at the time part of the dowry for most Bantu tribes, were used in ...

Among the Bakongo, warriors and hunting masters ring this bell with magical properties to chase away bad influences such as witchcraft. The sound also encourages the owner and his dogs. The motif carved in the round refers to the ancestors of the clan. Within the Khimba initiation society or the Lemba peacemaking association among the Yombe, this same type of bell, an emblem of dignitary power, was used during the manipulation and activation of a Nkisi by the diviner or Nganga in order to call upon the ancestors.

The Vili, the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembé, the Bwende, the Yombé and the Kôngo formed the Kôngo group, led by the 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 ...

Tools and weapons in African tribal art Pende adze decorated with a face like initiation masks.
Black glossy patina. Abrasions from use and cracks.
The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Easterners have settled on the banks of the Kasai downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of the neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salempasu have been imprinted on their large tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity, the realistic Mbuya masks, produced every ten years, have a festive function and embody different characters, including the chief, the soothsayer and his wife, the prostitute, the possessed, etc. The initiation masks and those of power, the minganji, represent the ancestors and are performed successively during the same ...

Belgian collection of African tribal art .
A tool for communicating with ancestors, used by the diviner during divination rituals, this sculpture is part of the category of nkisi , nkishi objects, which are supposed to be the receptacle of spiritual energy. The Luba , like their Zela neighbors, use this type of object linked to kashekesheke divination called katatora and lubuko . According to François Neyt, the object was carved from a wood ( kibekwasa ) with magical properties.
During the interview, the ring was caught by the diviner and his client, who would slide it on a mat or a headrest in response to the questions asked (producing the sound "kashekesheke", "extraction of the truth"). Considered feminine, the object is a symbol, for the Luba, of the spiritual power that ...

Short sword for ceremonial use whose wooden handle is wrapped in copper strips. Grainy oxidized patina.
Scattered across the Kasai basin, the Tetela of Mongo origin have been the cause of incessant conflicts with their neighbors. They also participated extensively in the slave trade. Their very diverse sculpture is marked by the influence of the groups living in contact with them: in the North, their art was subject to the influence of forest populations such as the Mongo, in the northwest that of the Nkutschu, and in the west that of Binji and Mputu. Kuba traditions were also a source of inspiration, as well as those of the Songye in the southwest. Their fetishes are kept out of sight. Animists, they seek to appease and direct the elements thanks to the sorcerer Wichi and the ...

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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The Kota live in the eastern part of Gabon, which is rich in iron ore. The blacksmith, also a wood carver, made tools for agricultural work as well as ritual weapons, such as this knife with a blade in the shape of a bird's beak, called osele or musele. He also produced reliquary figures plated with metal. The handle of this ceremonial knife is sheathed in copper wire. In Africa, before the colonial period, payments were never made in coins. Transactions were made using cowries, pearls, livestock, kola nuts, but also metals, especially iron. These primitive currencies were used in commercial and social exchanges, especially for dowries, but could also be parade objects or throwing weapons. In Sierra Leone, goods were valued in terms of iron bars called barriferri. In 1556 in Djenné, ...

The sculpted subject, associated with the butti ancestors, is here the central motif of this ceremonial weapon. Dark reddish brown patina. Height on base: 49 cm.
The Teke and their Mfinu neighbors have very diverse African sculptures, loaded with fetish materials, in order to try to promote hunting, cure illnesses, facilitate childbirth, etc. Established between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon, the Teke were organized into chiefdoms whose chief was often chosen from among the blacksmiths. The head of the family, mfumu, had the right of life or death over his family, the importance of which determined its prestige. The clan chief, ngantsié, kept the large protective fetish tar mantsié which supervised all the ceremonies.

Ex-Belgian African art collection
An emblem of power reserved for dignitaries, lineage leaders or even initiates of secret societies, this figurative scepter-stick forms the receptacle of an ancestor's spirit thanks to the sculpted motif while ensuring protection via the ingredients sometimes introduced at the top. Matte black patina. Abrasions and cracks.

The Lubas (Baluba in Tchiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is Katanga, around the Lubu River region, hence 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, venerated since then in the form of a python. In the 16th century they created a state, organized into a decentralized chiefdom, which ...

African everyday objects have always been the medium of choice for the artistic expression of African sculptors, particularly in Ivory Coast. The rice spoons of the Baoulé, and the neighboring Dan, were not only intended to be offered to the most hospitable woman in the community, as a trophy. They were used during community meals closing traditional festivals and ritual ceremonies but were also used during fertility rituals: rice was then thrown on the crowd to ensure protection and fertility. The handle of the spoon offers a finely chiseled head like the masks. Mahogany brown satin patina.

Ex-French collection of African tribal art Ceremonial axe of the Kete type Lulua, of particularly creative design. The Lulua type head bears a sculpted motif of a saurian whose tail extends onto the handle. Like the Chokwe sculpture, the object is inlaid with nails, arranged in decorative sections.
Bright mahogany brown patina, desiccation cracks.
The Kete, established between the Luba and the Songye, have mixed 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 ...

Small axe with a handle engraved with a stylized motif. The latter evokes the masks used during Mukanda initiation ceremonies. ("Chokwe and Their Bantu Neighbours" Rodrigues de Areia.) Smooth black patina.
Originally Lunda, the Lwena, Luena, emigrated from Angola to Zaire in the 19th century, pushed back 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 ancestors and deceased chiefs, and their masks linked to the initiation rites of the mukanda. Their sculpture was largely influenced by that of the Chokwe.

The ritual consumption of palm wine in an individual cut, Kopa, Koopha, was the prerogative of the lineage leader or the matrilineal supreme leader at ceremonies, such as a wedding. It was then passed on to the next generation. Refined cup whose grip has satin the surface, it integrated into the treasure of regalia, objects of prestige symbolizing the status and reserved for the chieftaincy.
Symbols in the form of summary incisions are engraved between the two spouts. Patina nuanced. Similar models called koopha were used by the Yaka (Fig.6 p.17 in "Yaka" ed 5Continents.) 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 some similar social structures and ...