Loading, please wait...
Details
LOT 2371
African Wooden Ceremonial Figure
MADAGASCAN TRIBE, 20TH CENTURY A.D.
11 in. (157 grams, 28 cm).
A painted female figure in knee-length robe with a white glass bead necklace, mounted on a later black wooden display base. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From South Madagascar.
From an old Shrewsbury, UK, ethnographic collection.
From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
VETTING:
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.
RELATED LOTS
-
West African Squatting Stone Figure Pair
Kissi Tribe, early 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Carved stone statues (twins) from Sierra Leone; two steatite anthropomorphic carvings, one male and one female, both with hands wrapped around the knees. 2.55 kg total, 20-23.5 cm
From Sierra Lione, West Africa. From an old Norwich, UK, collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
The Kissi as early as the 15th century, revered soapstone (steatite) anthropomorphic carvings, which are found in fields and rivers in the area centered around Sewa and Mano rivers. The Kissi people call them Pomdo (Pombo), which mean "the deceased". Some of their carvings are extremely old. These statues were the abodes of the spirits of their ancestors. In order to find out which ancestor a statue represented; a man’s dreams were analyzed with the help of the diviner. At festivities the statue was wrapped in cotton upon which sacrificial blood had been poured. The owner (the guardian of the statue) placed it on the family altar; hence it was thought to be the family’s protector against sickness. It was also consulted before a new undertaking was planned. The statues were believed to have supernatural power and were used in rice cultivation. Remarkably, the descendants of the Kissi people still keep up the tradition of stone carving. -
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. -
African Wooden Ceremonial Face Mask
Bambara Tribe, 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
A small wooden carved mask with curved horns, decorated with thin metal sheets and fabric tufts. 234 grams, 30 cm
From Mali, West Africa. From the collection of the late Professor R M Hicks, OBE. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.