Antique Ceremonial Beaded Apron Textile from South Africa

A Proto-Nazca textile fragment from Southern Peru circa 100BC-200AD. The linked munecas ("dolls" in Spanish) figures were woven with fibers likely from l...

A Guere wood mask with paint and fiber remnant from We people displayed on a metal stand. The We people (also known as the Krahn or Guere) are an indigenous African people that inhabit areas in nowadays eastern Liberia and western Côte d'Ivoire. Their material culture shares many aspects with the neighboring Dan tribe. Like the Dans, the We use a wide variety of masquerades, which hold important regulatory position within their small, egalitarian communities. Masks are owned by families and used by individual lineage members in contexts of social control, ritual ceremony and entertainment. This type of Guere mask, however, has a distinct fearsome character. The ferocious design with jagged facial expression, bulging tubular eyes are intended for use in mediations between community members, as visual aids during moral lessons, as well as forms of entertainment. By portraying the more frightening nature of the animal, the mask is viewed as powerful and may have been used as part of social control methods prior to the introduction of Western law systems during the colonial period. The mask on offer, based on our examination, appears to be an original one that was used natively instead of reproduction made for the tourist market. The surface presents apparently genuine patina consistent with use. The red paint that highlights the eyes and gapping mouth also appear original. There are small losses flanking the nose ridge by the eyes, extensive surface accretion, remain of some fiber tassels. The back of the mask reveals chisel marks from hand tools and importantly, stain marks that were likely from repetitive contacts from the nose of the wearer. The mask is 9" in height, and it retains an old Sotheby’s catalog...

Antique Man’s Ceremonial Beaded Vest (Kuton), Gadding, Philippines This Gaddang man’s ceremonial vest is from the Cordillera region in northern Luzon, Philippines. It’s composed of ...

Early 20th century Ceremonial Cloth / Tampan, Paminggir, Lampung region, South Sumatra, Indonesia Commonly referred to as ship cloths, these ceremonial tampan would have been used as gifts, wrappers, cushions or pillows in any number of life-transition ceremonies, including children’s first hair cutting...