Striking Makonde Animal Helmet Mask, Dog or Hyena, Tanzania, Early 20th C.

Powerful Scarified Makonde portrait helmet mask from Tanzania. Early 20th century with heavy dark patina from traditional tribal use, wear inside from being used. Finely carved featu...

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...

Early carved wood small Salampasu Warrior's Mask, Zaire, Africa early 20th century, remains of black and white pigments, on custom stand. Mask 10", height on stand 14" strong angular...

Early Ibibio mask fragment from Nigeria, deep black-red pigment, expressive eyes. A compelling face on a custom metal stand. Old insect damage/erosion to p...

The largest Adan shrine figure we have ever seen at 27 1/2 inches high. Usually Adan figures are a third of this size or less. At this scale the sculptural skill of Adan artists is f...

Add a piece of African history to your home. This is large and evocative of ancient times and ceremonies. Weathered wood mask fragment, Bambara people, Mali, Africa, late 19th-early ...

Makonde helmet mask , Tanzania, Africa, early 20th century. Woman's face with a lip plug. The young woman represented wears earrings. Her hairstyle shows three large braids which are sculpted by hand. Carved wood. Width : 11.4"(29cm), Depth : 12.8"(32.5cm), Height: 8.3" (21cm). A shock made during the ceremonies above the right ear caused a crack. Remains of black patina. See photos. The mask is in good age and used condition. Early 20th century. Delivered without seat. Makonda tribes live in southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique. The most famous Makonde masks are helmet masks, called Lipico, which are used to mark a boy's initiation into adulthood. They also used masks with female faces such as this one. Brought from Africa to France in the 1920s, this helmet mask shows traces of use. It has been worn which places it at the beginning of the 20th century at least. The pigments darkening the skin (not the hairstyle) have faded or gone. Some small gaps on some protruding parts. A shock to the top of the skull, apparently due to a pointed weapon, generated star-shaped cracks. This impact is not running...

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...

Hand carved wooden Makonde Mask From Mozambique, Tanzania Circa 1950s. Mozambican Makonde masks represent ancestral spirits who temporarily return to earth to appear in dances that c...

This comb was fashioned in the hand carved, traditional Makonde style. This fertility comb features a pregnant woman. Generally, local carvers make only a belly and breast comb to be...

An iron figurine made in Africa around the 20th century. In many countries in Africa, iron objects are used for objects, coins, tools, and rituals. Dogo...

Large carved hardwood ornamental structure used as a support and a decorative frontispiece. It bears a stylized face embedded within an ornately carved and painted geometric pattern....