African Folk Art

A superb heavy tribal bracelet from the Horn of Africa, attributed to the Ethiopian, Somali, or Nubian regions. Crafted from high-grade silver, this substantial piece is richly decor...

Add bold tribal character to your space with this striking Songye Kifwebe mask from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hand-carved from wood and featuring the signature geometric line...

Shoowa Prestige Cloth D.R.Congo, Kuba (Shoowa) People Mid 20th century Raffia, natural dyes, cut pile embroidery 61 x 53.5 cm (24″ x 21”) Provenance: Pierre Loos Collection, Bru...

Bring a piece of African heritage into your space with this authentic vintage Katanda mask from the Lega people of DR Congo. Hand-carved in the mid-20th century, this tribal mask is ...

An example of the continuation of the Kuba design tradition into the late 20th century. Technically superb, an amalgamation of traditional patterns interpreted by contemporary artist...

Rare mid century Lobi folk tribal art female figure wooden sculpture produced in Burkina Faso, Africa by anonymous designer in the 1940s. In good original condition. Dimensions: H:...

WOMAN’S WRAPPER (BOGOLANFINI) Mali, Bamana people First half 20th century (probably made circa 1970) Cotton (hand-spun), strip weave; painting with mud and plant dyes These textil...

With a beautiful dark patina, this early 20th century wooden mask shows a naturalistic human face, flattened, with the forehead, open mouth and stylised teeth in light relief; the ri...

African tribal art parchment wall shade sconce featuring a large triangle hide form stitched on iron and hand painted surface. These Moroccan art pieces could be used as wall lamp s...

Antique Ceremonial Raffia Fiber Dance Kerchief, Ivory Coast These unusual Dida textiles are made from hand-plaited raffia fiber that is tie and stitch-resist dyed with natural pigme...

Large Dogon ladder, Mali Wood Early to mid-20th century Measures: 75.5 x 14 in. / 192 x 36 cm With a textured, eroded patina, this ladder was originally used outdoors. Ca...

A fine Baule female figure Standing leaning forward with serene expression with hands on abdomen Period: early 20th century Condition: Old Insect holes and minor damage Measures: H ...

Authentic tribal piece, early 20th century.

Kota Reliquary of classic form. Brass and iron over wood. On an old base, with an old number label. Ex Estate of Willliam Kohler, Christies NY 'Important Tribal Art' Nov 20 1997.

An early to mid-20th century Toguna support post from the Dogon Tribe of Mali, on custom metal stand. This West African hand carved wooden bean was origin...

A Fine and Large Egyptian Limestone Relief Carved in Shallow Relief Traces of original polychrome Old Kingdom / 5th Dynasty / 2454 - 2311 B.C Size: 32cm high, 70cm wide, 5cm deep - 12½ ins high, 27½ ins wide, 2 ins deep Provenance: Ex Private Swiss collection, acquired mid 1960s and thence by descent Ex Rupert Wace Limited London Ex Private London collection cf A...

Atypical form with a rich high patina. Professional mounted. Provenance: Weinberg Modern.

Drum, African Tamtam Engoma from Uganda. The 50's 20th century African tribal drum. Made using a zebra skin, the drum has great sound. A multifunctional piece can also be used as an ...

Bobo Uele Mask in hand-carved wood from the Bwa tribe in northern part of Burkina Faso. Antilope-shaped mask with human-like face. Painted with white and black color. Provenance:...

Kenyan Massai tribe hand painted hide shield circa 1920.  Not to be confused with modern reproductions. Beautiful decorative piece from Kenya, likely to be from the Massai or Kikuya...

Ancient Egyptian kohl vessel set, dating to the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1295 B.C.), includes a wooden container for storing kohl, a black cosmetic used for eye adornment and protection,...

Pair of very decorative large handcrafted Moorish, Spanish style ceramic urns planters from Fez, Metal handles, bottom and top adorned with embossed metal. Great decorative large ce...

20th century Prestige cloth, Shoowa people, Kuba Kingdom, D. R. Congo A syncopated pattern of opposing forces lends this prestige cloth a sense of movement both horizontally and v...

One of a kind large square room size with a happy-go-lucky large camel sitting on an ivory ground. The wool on this is phenomenal. it's soft on the feet. The hump on the camel has a ...

Mid-20th Century Globular Vessel, Mangbetu People, D. R. Congo An unusually large and striking non-figurative vessel from the Mangbetu people, comprised of six lobes joined to a c...

Possibly Babanki. Circular ceremonial wood stool constructed of repeated animal heads. Original applied patina.

Ancient Egyptian Turquoise Glazed Faience Ushabti of the 26th Dynasty Good condition, displayed on stand An Egyptian ushabti, also known as shabti or shawabti, is a small funerary f...

Authentic old piece, retaining some of the original painted surface. Art from the Cameroon tribes played a great role in influencing and inspiring the German Expressionists. Though ...

Vintage Andrianna Shamaris Senufo Style African tribal art very unique wood stool, bench, side table or headrest from a single block of wood with stunning wood grain and patina. Stur...

Sometimes referred to as dolls, this is a highly abstract figure with conical head, arms and legs held out from body, long columnar neck wrapped with mulitple strands of different si...

Truly a majestic Benin Oba. Beautifully and finely hand carved in Ebony hardwood from the 1930's A piece of this quality and stature holds enormous presence...

Purchased from the estate of Patti Cadby Birch Trust. Birch was a collector and a trustee of Both MOMA and MMA. The antelope itself is 13 1/2"x4 3/4...

A unique intricately detailed hand-hammered bronze of a fish. Bursting with character, this marine life mythical decorative object would enhance any shelf or tabletop. This object form is one of the best-known examples of Benin art, created from the thirteenth century onwards, by the Edo people, which also included other sculptures in brass, including some famous portrait heads and smaller pieces of art. Tribal African Art...

Yoruba people have one of the highest incidents of twin births in the world. As a result, twin children are regarded as extraordinary, divine beings protected by Sango, the deity of ...

African Ethiopian painting imported to Italy by a diplomat during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, in the late 1930s. This tribal folk art painting depicts a battle scene and the canvas is mounted on a parallelogram-shaped frame. It is a large battle painting...

This beautifully carved title stool, from the Gogo culture in Tanzania, features a wonderful looped and adjoining structure. Dating back to the mid-twentieth century, this fine examp...

African Art by Kongolo Relief in Brass, 1979 Kongolo , African Art Relief in brass Signed and dated 1979 Measurement is 72.5 cm high. 41.5 cm wide and the depth is 3.5 cm.         

This 1930's panel, from the Mbole culture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been woven from bark fibre. Dark-coloured strands of fibre, dyed with the roots of a banana tre...

Mid-20th century Wool Baknough (Woman's head covering) Berber People, Libya This wool baknough is most likely from Libya, although similar pieces have b...

Old Luba People stool hand carved from a single piece of tree wood w/ caryatid female ancestral figure as the central support. Showing good signs of genuine age and beautiful old sur...

This beautiful sculpture by an unknown artist, depicting a Ndebele. Despite of occasionally mistakenly attributed to Carl Hagenauer is it undoubtedly a masterpiece. In earlier times,...

Shoowa Prestige Cloth Kuba Shoowa peoples DR Congo, Kasai Region Raffia palm fiber, natural and chemical dyes, cut-pile and stem stitch embroidery 24.5 x 24.5 inches (62 x 62 cm) ...

A Tribal Art Byeri Fang Sculpture Gabon 1980's Very nice decorative sculpture. Beautiful black and shade of red. Late work from Southern Gabon. Repo...

A whimsical and playful early 20th century leopard-form mancala game board carved with the board resting on the leopard's back and with a patina that only a hundred years of use coul...

An Adire Eleko women’s wrapper from a recently acquired, exceptionally fine collection of 1960-1970s-era adire cloths sourced in the early 1990s. The cassava starch-resist and dye...

Amazing and scarce JUDAICA object, we have here one of the most touching jewish objects we had for a long time, this small silver dowry box was made in Algeria in the early 19th century, it is all covered with symbols of jewish faith and of couples, the sliding lid has 2 flanking birds with hamsa (protective hand) on each side and a flower vase in the middle. one side shows two flanking lions with a tree in the middle and the other side shows again two big and two small birds with a flower bowl in the middle, front side has a key hole and next to it there is the Hebrew inscription ס״ט״" which says Siman tov or in English "a good sign" it is taken from the wedding blessing, underneath the lock there is another inscription with the name ״עזיזה בת אברהם בן חמו״ which is the name of the bride, her father and her grandfathers name. the box is full marked a lot of times with the silversmith mark, every side of the box is marked. this box was probably ordered by the grooms family to hold the jewelry they are giving to the bride as dowry, this type of objects are rare and there are just a few of them on museum collections. DOWRY (Heb. נְדֻנְיָה), the property a wife brings to her husband at marriage; the Yiddish equivalent, nadn, is from the same root. The custom of nedunyah became clearly defined and institutionalized only in the talmudic period. In biblical times, mohar (מֹהַר), whereby the groom bought his wife from her father (Gen. 24:53; Ex. 22:15–16; Hos. 3:2), was the accepted practice. It was then customary that the groom give the bride gifts, and that she bring certain property to her husband's home upon marriage: slaves, cattle, real estate, etc. (cf. Gen. 24:59–61; 29; Judg. 1:14ff.; I Kings 9:16). Evidence of the custom of nedunyah is to be found in Tobit (7:14; 8:21) and in the Assuan papyri (Cowley, Aramaic, nos. 15, 18). Gradually, mohar was superseded by the ketubbah custom according to which the husband merely assumed the responsibility of compensation to his wife in case he divorced her: he had to pay her 200 zuzim if she had been a virgin at the time of marriage, and 100 zuzim if a widow or divorcée (see *Ketubbah). By talmudic times, the institution of nedunyah was prevalent; the father gave a dowry to the bride since the daughter was excluded from paternal inheritance. Fifty zuzim (equivalent to the worth of 180 grams of silver) was the minimum amount a father was obliged to give to his daughter (Ket. 6:5). Parents usually gave much more, according to their social standing. Community funds provided the dowry for an orphan or a very poor girl (ibid.; cf. Sh. Ar., YD 251:8). In case of her father's death, the brothers of a minor girl were obliged to give her the minimum dowry, and the court estimated how much her father would have given her above the minimum dowry. The sum was then taken out of the father's estate and given to the daughter upon majority (Ket. 6:6; 68a–69b). In the absence of such an estimate, each daughter was entitled to receive one-tenth of the value of her father's estate in money, or in valuables (Yad, Ishut, 20:4–7; Sh. Ar., EH 113:4). If the father was unable or unwilling to pay the promised dowry at the betrothal ceremony, the groom could refuse to marry his bride (Ket. 13:5; Ket. 108b–109a). Insistence on exact payment of the promised dowry, however, was frowned upon by later rabbinic authorities (Rema to Sh. Ar., EH 2:1). In certain communities it was customary for the groom's father to make a dowry contribution equal to that of the bride's father (Ket. 102b). The dowry, whether given in real estate, slaves, money, or chattel was recorded in the marriage contract (the ketubbah) and in some instances one-third or one-fifth of the actual value of the dowry was added to the sum mentioned in the ketubbah. Based upon a decree enacted by *Simeon b. Shetah (first century C.E.), the Talmud ruled that the husband and his entire property were liable for compensation as stipulated in the ketubbah, either in case he died (when she collected the sum specified in the ketubbah from the heirs) or in case he divorced his wife (Ket. 82b). For the status of the dowry and the husband's rights and obligations, see below. The rabbinic enactments (Takkanot Shum) by R. Jacob *Tam and by the rabbinic synod of the communities of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz (Germany) stipulated that if a woman died...

Two Pairs of Yoruba Edan Ogboni Figural Brass Staffs, each pair atop a stepped base, together with Segy Gallery documentation. Taller overall: 11.25" H x 5.25" W x 2.25" D. Provenanc...

A truly fantastic, engaging, and uniquely made African Kota Mahongwe Hongwe Reliquary Guardian Figure/ Sculpture made by the Kota (Bakota) pe...

African Art by Luzolano, Oil Painting, 1978 African Art , oil painting Signed by Luzolano, 1978, A scene of two African woman The measurement is 60.5 cm ...

This graphic Songye Kifwebe mask has fine carved lines curved over the eyes and diagonal lines radiating from the nose and mouth in classic Kifwebe form. ...

Mid-20th century Tribal Zulu women's woven red cotton hat, Isicholo, from South Africa This woman's cotton Isicholo hat is a beautiful example of the hats worn during special ceremo...

A rare wicker war shield with a fine woven and dyed natural pigment patern from the Ngombe/Doko tribe from the Ubangi area DR Congo Late 19th century The shield is intense used in ba...

African Art by Kasongo Kamba, Lumiere Dans Une Lumiere, Relief in Brass 1977 African Art by Kasongo Kamba, Title: Lumiere dans une lumiere, African Art...

Powerful portrait of a Makonde man with a traditional lip plug in his upper lip, high carved cheek bones in the form of a finely carved helmet mask, with attached hair on top from Ta...

Visually dynamic and highly textured, this raffia textile expresses the irregular, geometric patterns typical of Kuba textile art. Created by an artisan of the Kuba people of the Dem...

An exceptional Voodoo Objet fro Africa, Uganda ,Buganda Kingdom, the object is decorated with Shells, Beads, Fiber,seeds and iron, a Royal fetish used by higher Royalty, ex-collecti...

Vintage Moroccan Tribal rug handwoven by Berber women from Morocco. Great geometrical abstract designs, very modernist carpet. Vintage Berber rug from the Taznakht tribe in south eas...

African Art by Tshibanda Bondo, Relief in Brass, 1978 Tshibanda Bondo (Senegalese, born 1947) African art with relief in brass Scene of a sitting person Signed and dated 1978 The s...