Early 20th Century Snake Man Mask

Early 20th Century Painted Canvas Paris Theatre Mask Mould An unusual piece of early 20th century theatrical costume, recently obtained from a Paris (France) theatre collection early...

19th Century Japanese Meiji Iki mask A Japanese Meiji period Iki mask dated from the late 19th Century, depicting a dynamic expressive human face, with glass eyes and hair and a burn...

Early 20th century folk art model 'EST-CE UN PIETON OU UNE VOITURE?' (IS IT A PEDESTRIAN OR A CAR?) An Early 20th century French hand carved folk art model, depicting a police...

Early 20th Century Folk Art Fairground Elephant We share what we love, and we love this charming and naively formed early 20th century hand craved fairground ride figure. With a de...

Mid 20thcentury papier Mache Paris theatre mask of sleepy head A quirky example of an early to mid-20th century hand crafted papier Mache theatre mask, in the form of a sleepy head old man figure...

Early 20th century American double sided whirligig figure A brilliant example of early 20th century American Folk Art. In the form of a hand carved wooden double sided whirligig f...

Highly decorative and impressive shields from the buttress-like roots and/or trunks of mangrove trees. The soft mangrove wood is well suited to be proces...

Popular 1950s Spanish bearded man hand painted papier-mâché mask worn during village festivals.   

Attributed to the Yoruba people of western Nigeria, this wooden headdress was worn during a masquerade known as egungun. A widespread Yoruba ritual, egungun performances honor a comm...

This helmet mask created by the Mende people of Sierra Leone was made for the women of their tribe to wear while dancing. Commissioned by women for their ...

Very important “Nwantamtay” dance African mask, consisting of three sections: The upper in plain rectangular shape surmounted by a crescent shape moon, the middle with beautiful geometric triangles in black bitumen and white kaolin, surrounding a red cruciform in the centre of remarkable contrasting colors, and the lower part or face inscribed in a circular space that inspired numbered great artists like Joan Miro, Picasso and Henry Moore of a very strongly solar symbolism, with a projecting protuberance emanating from the forehead like a sculpted bird beak, that descents toward the mouth. Concentric eyes harmonize with the circular mouth, both with of elegant proportions. The whole mask exudes a supreme harmony and perfect balance rarely seen in this pieces. The back-side presents nice ware that attested the ancient origin and traces of animistic ceremonies as the use of animal blood residues. The painting of brown bitumen or cola, the natural colorants in red and ocher tones and the white kaolin are original and do not show any repainted or restored areas, giving a freshness rarely seen in old pieces. This exceptional mask Bwa, of the Hound`e Region in Burkina-Fasso, was used it the transit ceremonies and funerals manifesting the presence of “Do”, name given to their God sons, protectors and powerful spirits. The round face also represents an owl, the curving beak of the bird plants a seed into the sun, like a female sexual vulva being fecundated by the male organ; the eternal symbol of Ying and Yang, masculine and feminine, and the quest of life and death. This mask of Primitive facture can be compared to the one in the celebrated Verite Collection (this one being larger) sold in Paris at the Hotel Drouot, Saturday June 17, Lot 59, for 80,000 Euros and remarkably stands out from the Pierre and Tannia Matisse sold in Sotheby’s, New York in May 13, 2011. Another similar piece was published in: “Arman et l’art africain...

Exceptional artistically hand carved wood mask hand painted made of single piece of wood and was made for decorative purpose. Very intriguing and...