Loading, please wait...
LOT 2344
African Ashanti Bronze Figural Gold Weight Collection
AKAN TRIBE, 19TH-20TH CENTURY A.D.
2 - 3 3/8 in. (202 grams total, 51-84 mm).
Group of three workmen in active poses with handtools. [3, No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom an old Oxford, UK, collection.
From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
TimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
-
African Wooden Ancestor Figure
Fang Tribe, 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
A hand-carved standing female figure with hands placed in front of the figure and wearing arm rings. 930 grams, 48 cm
From Equatorial Guinea, West Coast of Central Africa. From an old Bristol, UK, ethnographical collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
The people that are called “Fang” in the geographic or ethnographic literature number 800,000 and constitute a vast mosaic of village communities, established in a large zone of Atlantic equatorial Africa comprising Cameroon, continental Equatorial Guinea and nearly the whole north of Gabon, on the right bank of the Ogowe River. The Fang practice a cult devoted to ancestor lineages, the bieri, whose aim is to both protect themselves from the deceased and to recruit their aid in matters of daily life. Bieri are reliquary figures placed by the Fang upon their bark boxes to personify the tribal soul, containing the skulls and skeletons of prominent deceased persons. The bieri also served for therapeutic rituals and, above all, for initiations of young males during the great so festival. The rites included consumption of a plant with stimulant properties, which induced a trance lasting for several hours, and the “resuscitation of the ancestors,” in which figures detached from the reliquaries were moved somewhat playfully from behind a raffia screen as puppets. -
Ashanti Bronze Gold Weight Collection
Akan Tribe, 19th-20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Including a miniature cutlass with phallic ornament, anchor with ropework detailing and other items. 236 grams total, 3-10.2 cm
From an old Oxford, UK, collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman. -
Ashanti Bronze Gold Figural Weight Collection
Akan Tribe, 19th-20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Comprising three kilted figures, each carrying a basket, in various poses. 105 grams total, 53-56 mm
From an old Oxford, UK, collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.