African Arts Gallery

Ibeji Statuettes , incarnation of the missing child in African Yoruba art. Statuettes inspired by the Ere Ibeji of the Yoruba, decorated with glass bead necklaces. Satin black patina.br> In the language of the Yoruba people, ibeji means twin: ibi for born and eji for two. They represent the figure of a deceased twin. These African statuettes named ibeji are then treated as the missing child would have been. It is the mother who must take care of them; she can wash and feed them regularly. When she disappears, it is the remaining twin who takes over. There are indeed dozens of different stylistic trends for these famous pieces. A careful comparative study was carried out by Fausto Polo and Jean David in the work Catalogue of the Ibeji

Minimalism for this anthropomorphic figure in black iron. Rusty patina. The populations of the same cultural region, grouped under the name " lobi", form a fifth of the inhabitants of Burkina Faso. Few in number in Ghana, they have also settled in the north of Ivory Coast. It was at the end of the 18th century that the Lobi, coming from Northern Ghana, settled among the indigenous Thuna and Puguli, the Dagara, the Dian, the Gan and the Birifor. The Lobi believe in a creator God named Thangba Thu, whom they address through the worship of many intermediary spirits, the Thil. Various sacred altars are erected around the Lobi houses. The sanctuary of the family home is called the Thildu, where tribal sculptures of wood, iron or brass, statues of ancestors and batebas are grouped.

A power figure intended to protect the village, this tribal sculpture offers some of the particularities of Kongo fetishes, with a ventral load in which magical elements were introduced.
The Vili , the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembé, the Bwende, the Yombé and the Kôngo constituted 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 traditions, they produced a statuary with a codified gesture in relation to their vision of the world.
Dark red-brown patina, erosions.
"...Once the evils and their culprit have been determined, the nganga activates the force of the nkonde by planting a nail or an iron blade, witnesses of the request and especially ...

Sculpture composed of an animal horn loaded with fetish materials, topped with a head representing the mythical ancestor Oso. Satin brown patina.
Two totemic clans once formed the Kuyu ethnic group, living along the river of the same name, in the northwest of the People's Republic of Congo: in the West, that of the panther, and in the East, that of the snake. A secret male association, Ottoté, played an important political role in the nomination of chiefs. The initiation of young people ended with the revelation of the snake god Ebongo represented in the form of a head. The Kibe-kibe dances that accompanied the ceremony reactivated the successive stages of creation. The panther clan had a drum as its emblem. For its part, the snake clan had sculpted heads, painted in bright colors, ...

Ex.Belgian collection of African art
This type of Fang sculpture embodying a prestigious ancestor was enthroned on reliquary baskets. Abraded patina, erosions and desiccation cracks.
Among the Fang of Cameroon and Gabon, each family has a "Byeri", or reliquary box, in which the bones of the ancestors are kept. These boxes were guarded by the oldest man in the village, the "esa". The reliquary boxes were topped with a statue or a head that acted as guardian of the "byeri" boxes. They were also used during initiation ceremonies for young people linked to the "So" society. The term Angokh nlo byeri means "head only of the ancestor", as opposed to statues. During the festivals, the statues were separated from their boxes and carried on parade, brandished like puppets.

Statue head carved from dense wood, representing a "mujimu" ancestor. Height on base: 30 cm.
Matt brown patina. 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 of the Luba. The Kasongos form a Kusu subgroup, now dispersed among the Luba, Songye and Hemba. The therapeutic figures of the Kasongos, used by healers, were inspired by Songye fetishes. The magic charge, composed of ingredients of various origins, was inserted into the cavity of the head.

Revealing the adze strokes, an African sculpture named mwanangana depicting a chief from the Moxico region, wearing the chipangula cheffale. The chiefs had a major function in the propitiation rites intended for hunting and the fertility of women. Applications of castor oil and coloring plant decoctions were generally applied to the work.
Glossy black surface. Cracks.

Peacefully settled in eastern Angola until the 16th century, the Chokwé were then subject to the Lunda empire from which they inherited a new hierarchical system and the sacredness of power. 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 ...

Ex-Belgian collection of African art African statuette associated with the ancestor and mythical hero, founder of the ethnic group, Chibinda Ilunga. The head, with oversized palms and feet, has a noble headdress with curved side wings (cipenya-mutwe), wicker frame covered with fabric, brass, leather, and pearls. The chief had taught his people the art of hunting.
Brilliant nuanced brown patina, erosions and desiccation cracks.
The Tschokwe, of Bantu culture, had established themselves in eastern Angola, but also in the Congo and Zambia. Following different alliances, they mingled with the Lunda who taught them hunting. Their social organization also affected Tschokwe society. The Tschokwe, however, ended up dominating the Lunda, whose kingdom was dismantled at the end of ...

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.

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 ...

Devoid of its mystical "Bonga" charge, the cavity of this teke-type sculpted figure makes the bust protrude in powerful volume, seeming to bend thick legs. Under the headdress, the face with its clear, bulging gaze offers cubist features. Smooth dark mahogany patina. Lacks, drying crack.
Established between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon, the Téké were organized into chiefdoms whose leader 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 his prestige. The chief of the clan, Ngantsié, kept the great protective fetish Tar Mantsié which supervised all the ceremonies. It is the powerful sorcerer, healer and soothsayer who "charged" the individual statuettes with ...

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 ...

Former French collection of African tribal art. This type of sculpture is a ritual charm belonging to lineages. Performed according to the instructions of Nganga ngoombu and the object’s sponsor, activated using rituals and incantatory formulas and additions in the form of talismans, they have a protective function. The headdress is that of the heads of earth, the nose affects a characteristic upturned shape. Cracks and abrasions. Composed of formidable warriors, the Yaka society was governed by lineage leaders with the right of life and death on their subjects. Hunting and the prestige that results from it are the occasion nowadays, for the Yaka, to invoke the ancestors and to resort to rituals with the help of charms related to the institution "khosi". (C.M.Faïk-Nzuji, ...

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, ...

Statue of an ordinary "Bateba", supposed to counter various evils. Their suffering physiognomy suggests that they take care of the sorrows of men. Matte black patina, erosions.
The populations of the same cultural region, grouped under the name "lobi", form a fifth of the inhabitants of Burkina Faso. Few in number in Ghana, they have also settled in the north of Côte d'Ivoire. It was at the end of the 18th century that the Lobi, coming from Northern Ghana, settled among the indigenous Thuna and Puguli, the Dagara, the Dian, the Gan and the Birifor. The Lobi believe in a creator God named Thangba Thu, to whom they address themselves through the worship of many intermediary spirits, the Thil, the latter being supposed to protect them, with the help of the soothsayer, against a host ...

On Yoruba altars, this type of horseman statue embodies a deified ancestor or the divine messenger Esù or Elégba, one of the many orisa gods comparable to Christian saints. The equine, rare in the region, was an attribute of prestige that was reserved for the nobility and sovereigns. Matte patina with granular relief. Erosions.
The Yoruba, more than 20 million, occupy the southwest of Nigeria and the central and southeast region of Benin under the name of Nago. They are patrilineal, practice excision and circumcision. Centered on its multiple gods or orisa, the Yoruba religion is illustrated by its altars on which sacrifices are practiced. Arts and coded messages, àroko, are thus used to worship these gods who are supposed to have taken human form. Ref.: "Yoruba " B. Lawal.

Ex. Belgian collection of African art The numerous statuettes are, among the Ngandi, related to hunting and magic. Some represent the spirit Ngbirondo and act as guardian of the village.
Funerary statues were also used, and sculptures of a couple Yangba and his sister, equivalent to the Seto and Nabo ancestors of the Ngbaka.

The Ngbaka form a homogeneous people from the northwest of the DRC, south of the Ubangui. The Ngbandi live in the east (on the left bank of the Ubangui) and the Ngombe in the south. The initiation of young people, "gaza" or "ganza" (which gives strength) among the Ngbaka and the Ngbandi, presents many similarities, through endurance tests, songs and dances. The rites required the presence of ancestor sculptures.
Semi-matte patina, ...

Ex. French collection of African art
Tribal fetish statue with a receptacle for a magical charge and a basket made of wickerwork carried on its back. The gaze refers to extrasensory abilities. br /> Minor cracks, erosions.
Among the Kongo , the nganga activated rituals using a nkondi (pl. nkissi) to invoke a spiritual force. The term nkisi was later used to designate concepts such as "sacred" or "divine". The most influential category of "minkisi kongo" included instruments intended to help regional chiefs enforce the law. A metal object was nailed to a wooden figure as soon as a decision was made, each nail evoking a specific case: disputes, divorces, conflicts between communities... The nkondi thus aimed to guarantee the application of the agreement to resolve the ...

This African statue in carved wood depicts a naked subject. Its headdress highlights the elongation of the skull, typical of Mangbetu dignitaries, which a compression of the head from a young age gradually deformed.
Light beige patina, chips and cracks, old restoration (foot).
The elders called beli the anthropomorphic figures embodying ancestors, stored out of sight, and comparable to those belonging to their secret society nebeli. Light beige patina, missing parts. The Mangebetu kingdom, in the north of the Congo, produced architectural works that impressed European visitors in the 19th century. Their furniture, weapons, finery and statuary were marked by a rare aesthetic quality. The ethnologist G.A. Schweinfurth described its symmetry and refinement in 1870, while at the same ...