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LOT 2329
African Wooden Fertility Figure
YORUBA TRIBE, MID 20TH CENTURY A.D.
19 1/8 in. (1.1 kg, 48.5 cm).
Carved in the round standing male figures with tall hatched headdress extending to the rear, hands placed either side of his distended abdomen, knees flexed, standing on a plano-convex base. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom South West Nigeria, West Africa.
From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
The Yoruba are the largest nation in Africa with an art-producing tradition. Their figures, more often of Shango (also spelled Sango and Sagoe), deity of thunder and lightning are carved from wood and kept in shrines.
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
Dan Tribe, early-mid 20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Carved in an exaggerated face with slits in the protrusive eyes, open lips, vertical crest from nose to brow; with a rolled leather headband, decorated with cowrie shells and lengths of fibre. 808 grams, 28 cm
From Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia, West Africa. From the late Brian Morley collection, 1950s. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman. -
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. -
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.
