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African art - Mask:

The African mask is without question and with force, what it represents, what it embodies. It can be an ancestor, a spirit, etc. .... This is the reason why African masks are treated like humans, they are fed with offerings, they have personal sanctuaries. Most African masks are made to dance. Fang, Punu, Baule, Lega, monochrome or polychrome, zoomorphic, anthropomorphic or even hybrid, coated with kaolin, raw or with a sacrificial patina, they are linked to ritual cults, with various functions (agriculture, initiation, funerals, enthronement etc...). Some have a social, legal, police or peacemaking role.


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Markha mask
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Markha mask

Triangular volume in which the sharp lines affirm a solemn physiognomy. The forehead is underlined with cowries, encrusted in a resinous material, forming linear patterns. These patterns are discreetly repeated on the face, engraved on the surface in a succession of small circles. Interesting oiled brown patina dotted with erosions.
In African art, the Marka , Maraka in Bamana, Warka, or Sarakolé, are Muslim city dwellers of Soninke origin, established in southern Niger, scattered since the end of the Ghana Empire in Mali, Mauritania and Senegal . They now speak Bamana and have adopted many of the Bambara traditions, such as the Ntomo and the Koré, initiation societies that used masks during their ceremonies. The Bambara and Marka African art sculptors are part of the ...


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490.00

Zande mask
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Zande mask

Ex-French African art collection.

Shallow African Zande or Nzakara mask, incised with patterns corresponding to the scarifications, embellished with teeth and a metal ring. Thick locally chipped brown patina, abrasions.
Height on base: 48 cm.
Formerly referred to as "Niam-Niam" because they were considered cannibals, the tribes grouped under the name of Zande, Azandé, settled from Chad on the border of the DRC (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 an 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 consisting of spoons, receptacles, pipes and harps, counts ...


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350.00

Vili mask
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Vili mask

This African mask, of Vili inspiration, takes elements from the white masks of the Punu. At the top, the end of what was a hairstyle divided into shells. The face has checkerboard keloids.
Abraded matte patina. Present along the Gabonese coast, the Vili broke away from the Kongo kingdom in the 16th century and the Loango kingdom became a powerful state. Most of them are now urbanized, but they still belong to traditional associations that depend on ancestor worship, such as the Mbouiti or the Bieri. Like the Kongo group, in order to protect themselves against witchcraft and various plagues, they produce a wide variety of magical ritual objects of the nkisi type. Their masks are used by the association Ndunga or Djembe, but also for the funerals of dignitaries and during ...


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280.00

Bembe mask
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Bembe mask

This African mask embodying the god Alunga was used during the tribal ritual of the male Kalunga society, Alunga, exercising social control over the clan , and responsible for the public dances and ceremonies preceding the hunt. Evocation of a spirit of the forest, this mask was kept in the sacred caves and it was during festivals associated with hunting and ancestor cults that it was exhibited.
Grainy patina, cracks and gaps at the top.
The Bembe ethnic group is a Luba branch that left the Congo in the 18th century. Their society and artistic tendency are marked by the influence of their neighbors in the Lake Tanganyika region, the Lega, the Buyu, etc. Indeed, like the Lega, the Bembe had a bwami association responsible for initiation and structuring society, but ...


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190.00

Toma mask
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Toma mask

This mask has characteristics common to the Dan and Toma of Liberia. On the protruding forehead is a face associated with "passport masks", miniature masks that function as magical talismans. Institutions such as the Poro male society are used by different tribes on both sides of the borders of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The youth initiations associated with these associations culminate in festive masked ceremonies. Velvety matte patina.
The Toma of Guinea, called Loma in Liberia, live within the forest, at high altitude. They are renowned for their landai board masks intended to enliven the initiation rites of the poro association that structures their society, and which represent bush spirits. As soon as the landai mask appeared, the initiates would go to the forest to ...


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380.00

Ekoi Mask
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Ekoi Mask

Volute cimiers in the African art of Ejagham/Ekoi

A conical base in basketry rises a wooden head stretched out of animal skin. Its headdress, usually composed of horns in volutes, is here topped with ventrus perosnnages. The dancer's costume consisted of a large lattice of raffia ropes, and more recently, cotton cloth. The masks were coated with palm oil before use, and placed in daylight so that their leather softened and adopted a satisfying luster. Leopard societies, such as the male society Kpe, Ngbe among the Aro, used this model of cimiers for initiation ceremonies or funerals of members of the association, but also during agricultural rituals. The hairstyle would represent that of the young women named Moninkim in the end of their traditional imprisonments during which ...


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490.00

Ogbom Eket Statue
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Ogbom Eket Statue

This anthropomorphic dance crest features a face surmounting a stylized body composed of superimposed arcs anchored on a conical foot. Decorated with field diamonds whose once contrasting colours barely retain polychrome pigments, it remains extraordinarily expressive thanks to a concave face in which the bulging eyelids are modestly lowered. This mask was used during the Ogbom ceremonies. Thick crusty matte patina.
The Ekets are a subgroup of the Ibibio ethnic group known for its expressive masks. These Ogbom cimiers are among the most conceptual pieces of African art and relate to the most modernist expressions of the ancient statuary Eket.Il are open masks with a crusty patina and overhanging a human head. It should be noted that these masks can be feminine or male.


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530.00

Baga Masks
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Baga Masks

Cut from light wood, these shoulder masks emanating from the Northern Baga and also used by the Nalu have a voluminous head with a buzzed nose evoking a bird's beak surmounting a tubular mouth, a long summit ridge, and wide horseshoe ears. A metal clipping, hidden by the grainy matte patina, highlights the eyes and face on which also emerge chevron stripes evoking traditional scarifications. These masks would embody an idealized baga woman, i.e. principles of fertility and abundance of harvests and occur during harvests, marriages or deaths.
Ex. Belgian collection Mercier.Granular surface, abrasions and desisication.
Mixed with Nalu and Landuman , Baga live along the coast of Guinea-Bissau in flooded swamp regions six months a year. They believe in a creative god called Nagu, ...


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Pair of shoulder masks Sukwava Wurkum
African art > African mask, tribal art, primitive art > Pair of shoulder masks Sukwava Wurkum

Ex Belgian private collection of African art J. Putteneers.

The Wurkum, like the Mumuye, have shoulder masks called Skuwava with an elongated neck topped by a head, sometimes miniaturized. Wurkum pieces are nevertheless more expressive than Mumuye pieces.
These imposing masks were traditionally worn during war preparation ceremonies but are now linked to healing and rain rituals.
These uncommon pieces come from the northern regions of the Benue Valley. The patina is smooth in coffee tones.


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1950.00