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LOT 2328
African Wooden Ancestor Figure
FANG TRIBE, 20TH CENTURY A.D.
18 7/8 in. (930 grams, 48 cm).
A hand-carved standing female figure with hands placed in front of the figure and wearing arm rings. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom 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.
CONDITIONTimeLine 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:
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African Wooden Ceremonial Face Mask
Fang Tribe, early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
A large carved mask with a white heart-shaped face and a decoration to the forehead. 764 grams, 43 cm
From Cameroon, Central Africa. From the collection of the late Professor R M Hicks, OBE. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
The Fang used masks in their secret societies. Fang masks, such as those worn by itinerant troubadours and for hunting and punishing sorcerers, are painted white with facial features outlined in black. Typical are large, elongated masks and featuring a face that was usually heart-shaped with a long, fine nose. Apparently, it has been linked with the dead and ancestors, since white is their color. The ngontang dance society also used white masks, sometimes in the form of a four-sided helmet-mask with bulging forehead and eyebrows in heart-shaped arcs. -
African Brass Kano Bracelet Pair
Okombo Tribe, late 19th-early 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Penannular in form with plain white brass body and cone-shaped finials. 92 grams total, 63 mm each
From Nigeria, West Africa. From an old Derby, UK, specialist collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
The bracelet is the most common money form in Africa. It served the important monetary functions of portability and wealth display. Variants of this form were accepted virtually everywhere in Africa. -
Central African Brass Smoking Pipe Bowl
Early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Comprising an elongated bowl with rounded rim and bands of integral geometric ornament to the sidewall, drum-shaped foot, angled hoe to accept the drawing pipe. 336 grams, 88 mm
From Cameroon, Cental Africa. From an old Dorset, UK, specialist collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
Cameroon had by far the most elaborate smoking culture in Africa and the tobacco pipe was a highly respected item, both as a daily commodity and as an object with solemn ceremonial function.
