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The September Series

Wooden sculptures, mostly from West Africa,  and some more 'classical' masks from the Congo are displayed for September.
Some of these sculptures seem very rare, such as the Owo female ancestor sculpture. To the best of our knowledge there is no similar object published. A clear hint for the origin of the piece is indicated by the headdress of the sculpture : it reminds the typical Owo ram altars, of which there are many examples published in art books.
The monkey figure from the Mbembe is also quite unique in its kind. 
The hilaric note of the month is brought by the giant Bambara Lepard mask and by the 'running' Dagari Phallic statue.
Congo is represented by three very old primitive masks from Northern Ubangi people ( Bwaka and Ngombe ), and two 'classics' from Kasai (Bindji and Kete).
A small elegant stool representing 'a female body with monkey face' was for long of <unknown> origin, got finally attributed to Indonesian people.
The only metal piece on the page is part of a pair of iron Dogon sticks topped by figures with stylised head.
Soon we will welcome your expert opinion, or -if you are not an expert- simply your appreciation of the artistic quality of the objects.
A page that will allow interaction is under construction by the sorcerer-webmaster.
 

August : a glimpse on some terracottas from West-Africa

This August 09 month we added a selection of ancient and contemporary terracottas from West Africa to those already present in July 09.
The oldest date back to BC, these are the testimony of the great civilisations that were ruling this part of the earth, mainly along the Niger river, and in Nigeria in the Cross-river area.
Some examples of archeological findings are the seating figure from the Bankoni (Mali), the very expressive Koma figure (North Ghana), the impressive Akan figure and ancesters head (Coastal zone Ghana), and a terracotta royal head from the Benin Kingdom (Benin). 
Some other examples are contemporary, though from early 20th Century, and less well known , such as the Fra-Fra buste and Fallic pipe, the extravagant medicinal pots from the Cham, the elegant Akan doll  (see july09) , the Lobi recipient with snakes mingled to naked figures and hanging breasts, the finely striped Nigerian palm wine vase.
All objects had to play  a well-defined role in rituals, on altars, or had to accompany prestigious deceased persons on their last journey to eternity.