Yoruba, Nigeria
Early 20th century
Copper alloy
Dimensions: 9 x 2 in. / 23 x 5 cm
Height on custom display stand: 10.625 in. / 27 cm
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Baule People, Ivory Coast, Africa
Wood
First Half 20th Century
14 x 3.5 x 4 in. / 35 x 9 x 10 cm
Like this piece, Baule statues are usually carved standing on a base with legs slightly bent and their hands resting on their abdomen in a gesture of peace. Their elongated necks support a face with raised scarification marks and bulging eyes. The coiffure is very detailed and is divided into plaits. Baule statues were carved for two purposes: the first was to incarnate a spirit of the bush, Asie Usu; the second was to represent a spouse from the other world, Blolo Bla or Blolo Bian. The Baule believe every person has such a spouse, who is responsible for practical and spiritual problems that arise in life. Carved under the direction of the village diviner, such statues are kept in a person’s room and rubbed on the owner’s skin, giving them a shiny patina (Bacquart, The Tribal Arts of Africa, 1998).
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Kwere / Zaramo, Tanzania
Wood, natural fiber
Early 20th Century
8 x 2.5 in./ 20.5 x 6.5 cm
The artistic output of the Kwere features the omnipresence of the female form. Small, stylized, truncated dolls known as Mwana Hiti are played with by boys and girls alike. Mwana Hiti dolls depict a highly-abstracted female with a coiffure separated into two large crests. This abstract female figure also decorated containers, staffs, zithers, calabashes, and even thrones. This type of container was used for many items: medicine, pigments, tobacco, snuff, gunpowder, etc (Bacquart, The Tribal Arts of Africa, 1998).
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Senufo, Ivory Coast
Early 20th century
Wood
Dimensions: 8.75 x 2.75 in. / 22 x 5 cm
Height on custom display stand: 9.5 in. / 24 cm
Small Senufo statues are known as tugubele, which means spirit, and are used by diviners. Human in form, they represent the bush spirits who inhabit the savanna, forests, fields, and streams around the village. They demand offerings in order to prevent illness or disaster. Often in pairs, they incarnate the primordial couple and form the ideal social unit that respects the lineage of the ancestors (Kerchache, Art of Africa, 1993).
Domestic shipping included. International shipping quoted separately.
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