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LOT 2398
African Decorated Clay Spindle Whorl Collection
MALI, CIRCA 10TH CENTURY A.D.
2 - 2 1/8 in. (320 grams total, 50-54 mm).
Each discoid in plan and lentoid in section with central perforation and incised geometric ornament. [4, No Reserve]
ProvenanceEx private Oxford ethnographical collection.
From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
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AUCTIONS:
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African Wooden Water Jug
Early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
With geometric carved decoration, large spout, strap handle and a serrated rim; West African type. 511 grams, 28.5 cm
From West Africa. From an old Surrey, UK, oriental and ethnographical collection; acquired during 1950s. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman. -
African Wooden Ceremonial Face Mask
Kamba Tribe, mid-late 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Hollow to the reverse, with reserved hoops around the eye-slots developing to a slender nose, puckered mouth; remains of pigment. 734 grams, 37.5 cm
From Kenya, East Africa. From the private collection of Mr N.J., Leicester, UK; acquired circa 2010. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman. -
African Wooden Mother with Child Fertility Figure
Fang Tribe, early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
A hand-carved female figure standing on a base holding a child in front of the figure and displaying scarification to the face and breasts. 1.38 kg, 68.5 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.
