16th Century Tribal Art

One of a kind 16th century Spanish school dromedary saddle in carve walnut and wrought iron, in a very good condition with age and use, Its very difficult to find this pieces, it was...

16th century leather tribal ottoman water flask (Matara), Turkey. The round body of this matara tapers into two spouts: on the left is a small stitched ...

A large reconstructed elephant bird's egg, Madagascar,16 century. Restored.

An early iron hand cross from Northern Ethiopia, early to mid-16th century. Ethiopian hand crosses are coveted by collectors of medieval art, religious art and tribal art for their beauty and variety of forms. Ethiopia was probably the second country after Armenia to embrace the Christian faith. There is evidence that Christianity thrived in the country even in the 1st century and for most of the country's history since, the state religion has been Orthodox Christianity. This elegant example is a Portugese-style elongated Hand cross. In 1541, a grandson of Vasco de Gama, Cristovao de Gama, arrived in Ethiopia on a crusade together with 400 musketeers at the behest of the Ethiopian Emperor and helped reverse the Muslim Invasion from the East. With them, the Portuguese brought engravings and crosses which greatly influenced Ethiopian art...

An iron processional hand cross, Northern Ethiopia, 15th-17th century. Ethiopian hand crosses are coveted by collectors of medieval art, religi...