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LOT 2354
African Congo Wooden Headrest
LUBA TRIBE, 20TH CENTURY A.D.
8 in. (485 grams, 20.5 cm high).
A carved headrest formed as two opposed kneeling figures each with an arm on the other's shoulder; rectangular base. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceEx Walter Steinberg collection; acquired London art market, 1960s-1970s.
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AUCTIONS:
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African Wooden Ceremonial Face Mask
Lega Warega Tribe, early 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £208
Lentoid in plan with vertical lug for the bose and slits for the eyes; applied hair strip to lower face. 158 grams, 22.5 cm
From Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Africa. From the Estate of Dr J Bynon; acquired 30 July 1911. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
Most of Lega masks are sculptures of a human face that are rarely worn over the face and never for purposes of true transformation. The Lega masks can be assigned different uses and meanings depending on the context of the performance. In Bwami ceremonies, masks are attached to different parts of the body, fixed to hat, piled in stacks, hung on fences, held in the hand, dragged on the ground, and occasionally worn on the forehead with the beard draping over the face of the wearer or arranged on a miniature palisade. Participants in most rites display their masks as a group in conjunction with particular dance movements and aphorisms, which vary depending on the context in which they are used. Lega masks differ from those used in many other African masquerades in that while women do not own them, both men and women handle and present them in very similar performances. Masks are among the initiation objects displayed on the grave before being passed to new owners. They are usually passed from an uncle to a nephew. -
African Wooden Ceremonial Face Mask
Baule Tribe, early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
A wooden tribal oval mask with wide open mouth displaying teeth, a large narrow nose, hatched crest. 1.63 kg, 36 cm
From Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. From a Glasgow ethnographical collection; formed 1940s-1950s. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman. -
African Wooden Ceremonial 'Forest Spirit' Face Mask
Kwele Tribe, early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
Carved wooden 'Four Faces Forest Spirit Mask' from Gabon, displaying flat surfaces with whitened heart-shaped faces each with a triangular nose, coffee-bean eyes and small or non-existent mouth; the two large carved horns represent the antelope. 1.2 kg, 50 cm
From Gabon, West Africa. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
The faces are usually painted in white kaolin earth, a pigment associated by the Kwele with light and clarity, the two essential factors in the fight against evil. The Kwele occupy a great forest region on the borders of Gabon, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
