Loading, please wait...
Details
LOT 2357
African Wooden Comb Fertility Figure
ASANTE TRIBE, 20TH CENTURY A.D.
16 3/8 in. (483 grams, 41.7 cm).
Carved in the round with large discoid panel for the head with high-relief facial features; small body with arms spread, resting on a rectangular comb with six tines. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From Southern Ghana, West Africa.
From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
Footnotes
Fertility and children are the most frequent themes in the wooden sculptures of the Asante. The most numerous works are akua’ba fertility figures. The are dolls with disk-shaped heads embodying their concept of beauty and carried by women who want to become pregnant and to deliver a beautiful child.
CONDITIONVETTING:
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
-
African Wooden Ceremonial Crocodile Face Mask
Bobo Tribe, mid-late 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
A simplified crocodile head, painted red and black, rough shaped eyes and pegged teeth. 870 grams, face long: 33 cm
From Mali, West Africa. From the estate of a West Sussex, UK, collector. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
The masks symbolize animals or spirits and are worn during ceremonies associated with new crops, initiations and funerals. Ones with an interior cavity too small for a human head are carried on the top corner of a rectangular, tent like costume. -
African Wooden Ceremonial Face Mask
Baule Tribe, early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
A carved mask with crested horns and decorated in tones of white, red and blue. 620 grams, 39.4 cm
From Ivory Coast, West Africa. From an old Derby, UK, collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
The Baule people is one of the largest ethnic groups in the Côte d'Ivoire. Wooden masks allow a closer contact with the supernatural world and correspond to several types of dances: the gba gba, the bonu amuen, the mblo and the goli. They never represent the ancestors and are always worn by men. -
African Wooden Cermonial Face Mask
We Tribe, early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Carved with tubular eyes, a wide mouth with metal plate teeth, a broad nose and raffia hair around the whole mask. 1.15 kg, face long: 28.5 cm
From Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia, West Africa. From an old Newbury, UK, ethnographic collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
Masks are owned by families and used by individual lineage members in contexts of social control, boy’s circumcision camps, and entertainment. Most We masks were created to frighten with the gaping jaws and tubular eyes. Modern ethnology puts the Wobe and Guere together under the name We, despite the fact that the people themselves use the old names.
