Protruding forehead marked with a rib joining the nasal bridge, flat and horizontal eyelids, incised, and fine intersecting teeth on full lips. The gaze is punctuated by a series of small perforations. This is a variant of the African mask named Gela, Geh-Naw, from the Bassa group in Liberia. Old speckled patina. The Bassa group of Liberia is established on the coastal region, more particularly around Grand-Bassa. Its culture and its artistic production have been influenced by the Dan and the neighboring Kpellé, who speak the Mandé language. The Bassa have female and male initiation societies, including the chu-den-zo which gave birth to this type of sculptural creation. The geh-naw mask, or gela, was worn on the dancer's forehead, attached to a wicker frame, accompanied by fabrics ...
View details Bassa Mask
220.00 €
African animal sculpture of the Bozo in the African art of Mali. This African animal mask decorated with polychrome colors would honor a water genius. Abrasions from use. The Bozo, mostly fishermen and farmers, live in the northern part of the Bambara country in the interior Niger delta and today still remain semi-nomadic, 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. In addition to their remarkable traditional masks, the Bozo and the Bambara are renowned for their puppets of varied dimensions and frequently articulated, exhibited during the Sogow bo puppet theater which is organized at the initiative of young people from the villages, mainly in the ...
View details Bozo Fish
190.00 €
French collection of African art. African statue depicting a subject imbued with dignity and restraint, kneeling. Within African tribal art, this type of sculpture associated with individual worship adorned the Dogon family altar. Interesting grainy patina of ritual use. Desiccation cracks. Mostly sculpted to order placed by a family, Dogon statues can also be the object of worship by the entire community. However, their functions remain little known. Parallel to Islam, Dogon religious rites are organized around four main cults: the Lébé, relating to fertility, under the spiritual authority of the Hogon, the Wagem, worship of the ancestors under the authority of the patriarch, the Binou invoking the spirit world and led by the priest of Binou, and the society of masks ...
View details Dogon Statue
490.00 €
Ritual object associated with the voodoo cult of the Fon and Ewe cultures of the coastal areas of Ivory Coast and Ghana, Togo and Benin. Made of ceramic, the object has a globular body surmounted by three heads and two lateral arms as handles. These terracotta sculptures were placed on the altars which received libations of millet groats. Patina in whites, beiges and pink ocher (very slight cracking under one arm)
View details Fon Ceramic
750.00 €
The Zaramo and the tribes that surround them, such as the Kwéré and the Doé, designed dolls generally associated with fertility, but to which other virtues would be attributed. Its primary role is played during the period of confinement of the young initiate Zaramo. The novice will behave towards the object as with a child, and will dance with it during the closing ceremonies of the initiation. In case the young woman does not conceive, she will adopt the "child". Among the Zaramo, this carved motif is repeated on the top of canes, decorates ritual objects and even appears on burial posts. The shape is recurrent, a stylized head, topped with a double or single crest surmounting a barrel bust where slight reliefs indicate the breasts and the umbilicus. Light brown satin patina.
View details Kwere Doll
120.00 €
Integrating the category of female masks, this African initiation mask, Mbuya , embodies a diviner named Nganga Ngombo, which is indicated by the signs symbolizing a particular sensory acuity engraved on the forehead and the cheeks. The patina would result from a mixture of red ocher bark and palm oil. Abraded matte patina. Height on base: 37 cm. The western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the eastern people have settled on the banks of the Kasai downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salempasu imprinted on their large tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity, the Mbuya masks, realistic, produced every ten years, take on a festive function, and embody different characters that ...
View details Pende mask
140.00 €
Harvested in Mali by Jacques Anquetil, weaver and author of "Black Africa", published by Dessain and Tolra, this geometrically shaped wooden container was designed by the Soninke to store indigo vegetable dye or other make-up (made from the indigo plant), with which the fabrics were colored (such as the sails of the Tuaregs). Crystallized residues, blue and green in color, line the bottom of the container. Patina of use nuanced with browns, small accidents. -Jacques Anquetil, theater man who became master weaver initiated among the Dogon, president of the Métiers d' French art, author of "Africa, the hands of the world" at Solar editions and "Black Africa" at ed. Dessain and Tolra, and "The Hands of the World" by View details Soninké Box 180.00 €
View details Soninké Box
180.00 €
Equipped with round orbits to facilitate vision, called gunyeya or gunye ge, the African Dan mask offers an almond-shaped face with protruding diamond-shaped lips, pupils rimmed with metal, a braided hairstyle and a goatee made of plant fibers. Satin black patina. Height on base: 38 cm. The gunyeya masks or gunye ge are part of the set of masks of the northern Dan and are used for racing events during the season dried. The zapkei ge
View details Dan Mask
290.00 €
French African art collection.Vowed to the cult of ancestors of matrilineal type, this sculpture of African art of Punu, or Lumbu origin, depicting a kneeling masked woman, has a headdress composed of shells. Traditionally guarantors of the well-being of the community in the Punu culture, the water spirits, established in various places in nature, are embodied in women and will then express themselves through them. Their manifestation translates into trance of possession. Abraded velvety matte patina. Erosion at the top. The Punu are a Bantu people from Central Africa settled mainly in the south of Gabon, also in the Republic of Congo in the Niari region. They live in independent villages divided into clans and families. Social cohesion is ensured by the Moukouji ...
View details Punu statue
240.00 €
Along the slopes of the highlands occupied by the Kikuyu, live the Kamba whose main activity is cattle breeding. The populations of these regions have created lightweight objects whose format is easily transportable. The Kamba in fact produced figures such as our figurative style statuette, carved from red-brown wood. This copy, however, stands out for the finesse of its production. Satin patina.
View details Kamba Statuette
French collection of African tribal art. Small used medicine receptacle, made of a dried gourd whose wooden cap represents a head. Abrasions and cracks. This piece of tribal artcomes from the northeastern region of Tanzania, bordering Kenya, facing the Indian Ocean, where the Paré, Shamba, Zigua, and Mbugu tribes live. A relative homogeneity characterizes the productions of these groups, recalling some of the Malagasy and Bataks with whom, via maritime trade, contact could once have been established. Among the Zigua, sculptures served as an initiation support for educational purposes.
View details Zigua Calabash
150.00 €
In the very diverse teke statuary, bundzi fetishes are associated with the hunting that they are supposed to promote. While some belonged to the clan, others were dedicated to private use. Desiccation cracks. Honey-tinted satin patina. 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 head 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 magical elements, for a fee. It was also according to his ...
View details Teke Fetishes
Ax with a cephalomorphic motif, the handle of which bears a trace depicting a fish. Glossy patina, blue paint residue. Small accidents. The Lélé, close to the Tschokwe and the Pende, 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 ritual ceremonies are under the authority of the oldest, chiefs of each village who hold the secrets of medicinal plants. These elders once formed, with the parents of twins, spiritual intermediaries, the bangang brotherhood responsible for the initiation of young people. The sculptor is responsible for extracting palm wine, he also weaves raffia. He produces the ritual cups in which palm wine is consumed to seal a deal. ...
View details Lele Chopped
French collection of classical African art. A prestigious ceremonial attribute, this ancient fly swatter is sculpted with a head reproducing the group's masks. Glossy oiled patina, long drying crack. A tribe of the Tabwa group, the Rungu are established in a region between the D.R.C. (Democratic Rep. of Congo), Zambia and Tanzania. Under the influence of neighboring Lubas and Bemba, the Rungu produced prestigious objects intended for dignitaries: stools, combs, spoons and scepters, frequently decorated with figures of couples or twins evoking primordial ancestors. Their king, called mwéné tafuna, lives in Zambia. A women's association, Kamanya, has dolls like those of the Tabwas.
View details Rungu Fly Hunter
390.00 €
Box mask reproducing in miniature the famous zoomorphic mask symbolizing power. Golden beige patina encrusted with residual kaolin. Desication cracks. br-The Tabwa ('scarifier' and 'write') are an ethnic group found in southeastern DRC, around Lake Tanganyika. The tribes of this region, such as the Tumbwe , worship the ancestors mipasi through sculptures held by chiefs or sorcerers. A magical charge (dawa) was introduced to the top of the head of the statues. Soothsayers used such objects to expose witchcraft and protect against evil spirits. The Tabwa, a simple farmers without centralized power, united around tribal leaders after being influenced by the Luba. It was mainly during this period that their artistic current was expressed mainly through statues but also through masks. ...
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Collection of French African art. Kuba ceremonial belt, embroidered with pearls and cowrie shells, an ancient currency. br /> 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, whose name means "lightning bolt", also produced African tools and weapons, including throwing knives, which later became transaction values, and heavy war swords, Ilwoon.
View details Kuba Belt
Characteristic of the African art of the Solongo of Angola, a tribe of the Kongo group, this type of work representing a human figure perched on the shoulders of a second, was used during the rites of handing over of powers. Missing at the base. Semi-satin brown patina. Known for supplying the colonial market with carved ivory tusks, the Solongo were the first to come into contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century. Their realistic statuary consists of nkonde figures of power stabbed with nails, maternity sculptures, various fetishes, masks and prestige objects. Source: "the Kongo gesture" Ed. Dapper Museum
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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 later regained their independence through the wealth provided by the ivory. Linear scarifications run through the face and bust of this figure of a chief who is supposed to protect, according to François Neyt, the village against sorcerers. His headdress is also hatched with checkerboards. These objects were placed in sacred huts for the ancestors Smooth golden mahogany patina. Minor abrasions, grainy residue. Crack on one of the arms.
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This statuette is represented frontally, in a confident posture, hands in the pockets. The oversized feet are joined. Abraded polychrome patina. Some sixty ethnic groups populate the Ivory Coast, including the Baule, in the center, Akans from Ghana, people of the savannah, practicing hunting and agriculture just like the Gouro from whom they borrowed ritual cults and sculpted masks. Two types of statues are produced by the Baoulé, Baulé, within the ritual framework: The Waka-Sona statues, "being of wood" in Baoulé, evoke an assié oussou, being of the earth. They are part of a type of statues intended to be used as a medium tool by the komien diviners, the latter being selected by the asye usu spirits in order to communicate revelations from the beyond. The second type of ...
View details Baoule colon
This type of mask from the Gyé, or Dyé society, banned, could not be seen by women. African mask from Ivory Coast, sacred mask embodying a spirit of nature, it is similar to the Zamblé, a mythical male hero. Often narrow and curved, it presents a lively polychromy. Among the Mande group from the south, in central Ivory Coast, on the banks of the Bandama, the Gouro are organized into lineages. Animists, they have used a family of masks associated with the Zaouli dance since the 1950s. Guro masks, linked to the geniuses of nature, come in two zoomorphic masks followed by a third anthropomorphic. These masks are the property of families practicing the cult of lineage ancestors, who make ritual and sacrificial use of them in order to attract divine blessings. Priest and ...
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Collection of African Belgian art. An old grainy ocher patina covers these three Bambara animal sculptures in black iron. The mammal is a symbol of fertility and vigor. Established in central and southern Mali, in a savannah zone, the Bambara, "Bamana" or "unbelievers", as the Muslims have named them, belong to the large Mande group, along with the Soninke and the Malinke. Mainly farmers, but also breeders, they make up the largest ethnic group in Mali. The Bambara nyamakala artisan groups, more specifically the blacksmiths named numu, are in charge of carving ritual objects, endowed with the nyama , occult energy. Using fire and magic items, they are further assigned the role of healer and diviner. Their powers are passed on to their wives, who alone have the right to ...
View details Bambara Irons