Plus Tribal
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Except otherwise stated, all results below include the premium.
Except otherwise stated, all results below include the premium.
Dogon Mask
2017 SOLD for € 2.37M by Christie's
The African rainforest mercilessly eradicates the remains of ancient civilizations. Fortunately for the scientists some tribes were pushed away to the arid regions. The escarpment of Bandiagara, located geographically in Sahel and politically in Mali, was classified in 1989 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Its earliest troglodyte inhabitants were the Tellem, hunters-gatherers who built granaries and used pottery 2000 years ago. 500 years ago the Tellem were expelled by the Dogon farmers who used the caves to keep their ritual objects safe from unwanted use.
The Dogon civilization was studied on the spot by Marcel Griaule who collected objects from 1931 to 1933 for the Musée du Trocadéro and managed in 1946 a long interview with a blind old man who endeavored to understand the oral traditions of his ethnic group.
A Dogon figure from Bandiagara was sent to Paris in the 1950s by an African merchant. 57 cm high, it shows a nude woman kneeling on the skull of a male mask. This feature unique in African art is undoubtedly the sign of a very old age, perhaps more than 300 years. Its thick patina testifies to an intensive ritual use.
Died in 1956, Griaule was not able to study this exceptional specimen but his observations help for the interpretation. The man-woman duality of an object, which sometimes leads to hermaphroditism in the earliest pieces, is a cult of the primordial couple offering both strength and fecundity. The kneeling position of women is an attitude described by Griaule amidst the Dogon funeral rites.
This figure was sold for € 2.37M by Christie's on April 4, 2017, lot 82.
Its earliest troglodyte inhabitants were the Tellem, hunters-gatherers who built granaries and used pottery 2000 years ago. 500 years ago the Tellem were expelled by the Dogon farmers who used the caves to keep their ritual objects safe from unwanted use.
The Dogon civilization was studied on the spot by Marcel Griaule who collected objects from 1931 to 1933 for the Musée du Trocadéro and managed in 1946 a long interview with a blind old man who endeavored to understand the oral traditions of his ethnic group.
A Dogon figure from Bandiagara was sent to Paris in the 1950s by an African merchant. 57 cm high, it shows a nude woman kneeling on the skull of a male mask. This feature unique in African art is undoubtedly the sign of a very old age, perhaps more than 300 years. Its thick patina testifies to an intensive ritual use.
Died in 1956, Griaule was not able to study this exceptional specimen but his observations help for the interpretation. The man-woman duality of an object, which sometimes leads to hermaphroditism in the earliest pieces, is a cult of the primordial couple offering both strength and fecundity. The kneeling position of women is an attitude described by Griaule amidst the Dogon funeral rites.
This figure was sold for € 2.37M by Christie's on April 4, 2017, lot 82.
#Tribalart : l’exposition de la collection Laprugne et à divers amateurs commence demain chez Christie’s avant la vente du 4 avril pic.twitter.com/3RNTdbobz3
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) March 28, 2017
Senufo Primordial Couple
2008 SOLD for $ 4M by Sotheby's
On November 14, 2008, Sotheby's sold for $ 4M from a lower estimate of $ 3M a pair of Senufo statues, lot 63. It is rare that such a pair has been preserved without being separated.
They are large: 1.16 m for the male and 0.97 m for the female, in very good condition. They are believed to be created in the late nineteenth century or beginning of the twentieth century. Acquired in 1961 by Nelson Rockefeller, they were until 1967 part of his Museum of Primitive Art in New York, and were often exhibited and described.
This couple of ancestors of the Senufo society from Ivory Coast is powerful, with protruding chins, and arms and legs slightly bent in a position of ritual dance. The heads are dressed with large size symbolic attributes. The patina is deep brown with red, ochre and white pigments. The identical overall position of the two statues reinforces the idea of a complementarity man - woman of the primordial Senufo couple, to whom Kolotyolo, the creator of the world, gave birth together as twins.
They are large: 1.16 m for the male and 0.97 m for the female, in very good condition. They are believed to be created in the late nineteenth century or beginning of the twentieth century. Acquired in 1961 by Nelson Rockefeller, they were until 1967 part of his Museum of Primitive Art in New York, and were often exhibited and described.
This couple of ancestors of the Senufo society from Ivory Coast is powerful, with protruding chins, and arms and legs slightly bent in a position of ritual dance. The heads are dressed with large size symbolic attributes. The patina is deep brown with red, ochre and white pigments. The identical overall position of the two statues reinforces the idea of a complementarity man - woman of the primordial Senufo couple, to whom Kolotyolo, the creator of the world, gave birth together as twins.
Luba Headrest
2016 SOLD for € 2.3M by Millon
The bun of the elite women of the Luba-Shankadi ethnic group in Congo was a fashion that lasted several decades around 1900. It took about fifty hours to realize this spectacular and cumbersome hairstyle made of several wings of gradual dimensions.
To maintain this hairstyle during two or three months, the Luba woman slept with a headrest. The artists of the village carved neck supports. These small pieces of furnishing are the exceptional example of a type of object that reaches the peaks of African tribal creativity without being mystical.
The slightly curved wooden cushion is positioned 17 cm high, linked to the base through one or two caryatid figures bearing the double bun. The specialists recognize six iconographic variants grouped in two styles that are the work of two different artists identified together as the Maître de la Coiffure en Cascade.
By its functionality this object had to be robust without being heavy. The Maître obtained a pleasant balance between matter and emptiness in both cases of a central or dual caryatid. It is along with the stools a rare example of an African tribal design that incorporates void.
The artists are identified by the generic name of Master of the Cascade Coiffure. One of them, the most prolific and the most talented, is known by 12 single caryatid and 4 double caryatid headrests. The first example was collected in 1901.
The dual, known in four examples, consists of two figures seated face to face. The arms stretched between the two characters bring a feeling of great sympathy while forming an elegant entretoise.
One of these headrests was sold for € 1,35M by Sotheby's on June 6, 2005.
Another example with an attitude of friendly conversation of the caryatids was sold for € 2.3M on December 15, 2016 by Millon in cooperation with Christie's, lot 40. Charles Ratton had presented it to his wife who kept it for half a century.
On December 12, 2018, Sotheby's sold for € 1.75M as lot 141 a prestigious specimen by the same artist, used as a model in 1964 for the first publication describing the series. Its patina demonstrates a prolonged use.
This example of single caryatid has a beautiful asymmetry of the seated figure with one knee raised and the other leg bent backwards. It also includes one of the rarest features among this corpus : the hands hold a big pipe, alluding to the narcotic that offers sweet dreams to the sleeping woman.
To maintain this hairstyle during two or three months, the Luba woman slept with a headrest. The artists of the village carved neck supports. These small pieces of furnishing are the exceptional example of a type of object that reaches the peaks of African tribal creativity without being mystical.
The slightly curved wooden cushion is positioned 17 cm high, linked to the base through one or two caryatid figures bearing the double bun. The specialists recognize six iconographic variants grouped in two styles that are the work of two different artists identified together as the Maître de la Coiffure en Cascade.
By its functionality this object had to be robust without being heavy. The Maître obtained a pleasant balance between matter and emptiness in both cases of a central or dual caryatid. It is along with the stools a rare example of an African tribal design that incorporates void.
The artists are identified by the generic name of Master of the Cascade Coiffure. One of them, the most prolific and the most talented, is known by 12 single caryatid and 4 double caryatid headrests. The first example was collected in 1901.
The dual, known in four examples, consists of two figures seated face to face. The arms stretched between the two characters bring a feeling of great sympathy while forming an elegant entretoise.
One of these headrests was sold for € 1,35M by Sotheby's on June 6, 2005.
Another example with an attitude of friendly conversation of the caryatids was sold for € 2.3M on December 15, 2016 by Millon in cooperation with Christie's, lot 40. Charles Ratton had presented it to his wife who kept it for half a century.
On December 12, 2018, Sotheby's sold for € 1.75M as lot 141 a prestigious specimen by the same artist, used as a model in 1964 for the first publication describing the series. Its patina demonstrates a prolonged use.
This example of single caryatid has a beautiful asymmetry of the seated figure with one knee raised and the other leg bent backwards. It also includes one of the rarest features among this corpus : the hands hold a big pipe, alluding to the narcotic that offers sweet dreams to the sleeping woman.
Our specialist introduces an object carved by one of the most important African artists of the 19th century https://t.co/38MMUBJUmG pic.twitter.com/ZGgIzSzbgo
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) December 8, 2016
Baga Serpent
1
2008 SOLD for $ 3.3M by Sotheby's
On the Atlantic coast of Guinea, Baga people worshiped and feared the rainbow, this colorful phenomenon that links sky and earth and enables to predict abundance of crops and fertility. They looked for a being similar as the bow in order to communicate with mystical powers. They found the snake or serpent.
The Baga serpents are the most original African animal figures. With the winding of a boa, and of course colored to mimic the celestial phenomenon, they have been recognized as models by the masters of abstract expressionism.
As often in tribal art, explorers arrived too late in the villages to understand the use of this sculpture. The largest known Baga snake measures 2.50 m. Despite its huge size, it was probably worn on the head of dancers in ritual ceremonies for reaching the heaven. To maintain the balance, the largest pieces have more flexible shapes and are the most beautiful.
A serpent that belonged to Pierre Matisse, the gallerist of New York, became in the 1960s a symbol of the universality of art. Matisse had been charmed by its almost abstract forms, and made it take part in great exhibitions of modern art from 1962 to 1967, besides Miro, Giacometti, Tanguy, Lam and many others.
This piece 1.66 m high was sold for $ 3.3 M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2008, lot 58.
The Baga serpents are the most original African animal figures. With the winding of a boa, and of course colored to mimic the celestial phenomenon, they have been recognized as models by the masters of abstract expressionism.
As often in tribal art, explorers arrived too late in the villages to understand the use of this sculpture. The largest known Baga snake measures 2.50 m. Despite its huge size, it was probably worn on the head of dancers in ritual ceremonies for reaching the heaven. To maintain the balance, the largest pieces have more flexible shapes and are the most beautiful.
A serpent that belonged to Pierre Matisse, the gallerist of New York, became in the 1960s a symbol of the universality of art. Matisse had been charmed by its almost abstract forms, and made it take part in great exhibitions of modern art from 1962 to 1967, besides Miro, Giacometti, Tanguy, Lam and many others.
This piece 1.66 m high was sold for $ 3.3 M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2008, lot 58.
2
2013 SOLD for € 2.34M by Christie's
On June 19, 2013, Christie's sold for € 2.34M from a lower estimate of € 800K a beautiful serpent 1.90 m high, collected in 1957 by the same team that found the Matisse specimen, lot 58.
Baga Shoulder Mask
2015 SOLD for € 2.4M by Christie's
The Baga shoulder mask from the Vérité collection was sold for € 2.25M by Enchères Rive Gauche on June 17, 2006 and for € 2.4M by Christie's on June 23, 2015, lot 42.
Nkundu Coffin
2012 SOLD for € 2.7M by Christie's
The Nkundus from Congo use coffins or sarcophagi, which may become reliquaries if they are not buried. At the end of the nineteenth century, this practice takes a surprising artistic trend.
The sculptor hollows a trunk to receive the body of the deceased, and carves in extension the head on one side, the legs and sex on the other side. The arms are parallel to the body, but one of the forearms is raised to brandish a formidable knife with a curved blade. Teeth ready to bite enhance the aggressiveness necessary to protect the content.
A specimen that has retained its polychromy (without the lid to close the back) was sold for € 2.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M by Christie's on December 11, 2012.
The anthropomorphic ends have generated the figure of a tapered giant, for a total height of 2.54 m. A coffin is designed to be buried in the horizontal position. A standing exhibition, with the machete forward, provides to this artwork a wild, almost totemic, look.
Experts believe that this specimen was made after 1890 (but before 1909) by comparison with two other examples collected in 1891. It certainly spent little time in the equatorial bush. The analyzes did not detect an actual mortuary use.
The sculptor hollows a trunk to receive the body of the deceased, and carves in extension the head on one side, the legs and sex on the other side. The arms are parallel to the body, but one of the forearms is raised to brandish a formidable knife with a curved blade. Teeth ready to bite enhance the aggressiveness necessary to protect the content.
A specimen that has retained its polychromy (without the lid to close the back) was sold for € 2.7M from a lower estimate of € 2M by Christie's on December 11, 2012.
The anthropomorphic ends have generated the figure of a tapered giant, for a total height of 2.54 m. A coffin is designed to be buried in the horizontal position. A standing exhibition, with the machete forward, provides to this artwork a wild, almost totemic, look.
Experts believe that this specimen was made after 1890 (but before 1909) by comparison with two other examples collected in 1891. It certainly spent little time in the equatorial bush. The analyzes did not detect an actual mortuary use.
Fang Ngil Mask
1
2021 SOLD for € 2.54M by Christie's
The Fang Ngil mask from the Périnet collection was sold for € 2.54M from a lower estimate of € 700K by Christie's on June 23, 2021, lot 28.
2
2018 SOLD for € 2.4M by Christie's
On October 30, 2018, Christie's sold for € 2.4M as lot 98 another Ngil mask which has preserved a very long and abundant hair, a small raffia beard and scarifications in the shape of a double arrow on both temples.
Fang Mvai Male Figure
2011 SOLD for € 2.6M by Sotheby's
On June 15, 2011, Sotheby's sold for € 2.6M a masterpiece of the Fang art from Gabon. It is a male figure 53 cm high. The anatomy is composed of strong volumes, with an expressive and oversized head, giving an idea of the authority of the character. The finely carved details are typical of the Mvaï group: large hairdress in three parts, wide almond shaped eyes, arched mouth very close to the chin.
The statuette collected around 1915 was transmitted only by family ties, and has never been available on the market. The collection once contained another byeri reliquary statue of similar quality, which was sold for FF 5.5M by Loudmer in Paris on June 20, 1996, a price then considered as exceptional in its category.
The statuette collected around 1915 was transmitted only by family ties, and has never been available on the market. The collection once contained another byeri reliquary statue of similar quality, which was sold for FF 5.5M by Loudmer in Paris on June 20, 1996, a price then considered as exceptional in its category.
