African mask Toussiana bird Burkina Faso Mid XXem

African mask from Yaure tribe in Ivory Coast Circa 1950. Beautiful dark patina. Swedish private collection, from the 1980s then inherited within the family. Yaure tribe art is renow...

Kanuri-Hausa Headdress, "burtu" Kanuri-Hausa, Nigeria Headdress, "burtu Kanuri-Hausa, Nigeria wood leather horn. H 42 cm. Provenance : - Swedish private...

African Statue 'Boli' Bambara Mali C1950 Zoomorphic altar statuette (Boli). Kono tribe. Provenance: Swedish private collection, inherited with the Fam...

Statue of a rider on his mount from among the Senufo tribe settled in the north of Côte d'Ivoire. Carved from dense wood. beautiful patina. The statue has a custom made acrylic base....

"Bobo Mask Burkina Fasso-Upper Volta" is a wood carved sculpture with painted details. It features the image of an abstracted face with a large almost elepha...

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...

Very beautiful mask with large pronounced eyes with the circular cavity shape. The mask depicts a nocturnal bird that can see in the darkness and manifest the presence of divinities ...

A Papua New Guinea yam festival mask of a horn-billed bird from the mid-20th century. This vintage ceremonial mask, also referred to as a baba mask, originates from the Abelam people...