1930s Tribal Art

"Ndoma” Baule Portrait Mask, Ivory Coast, Circa 1930 Wood, heavy wood with deep brown-black lacquered patina. A superb old hardwood dance mask featuring an ...

A very finely woven wool veil used as a head scarf in the wedding ceremony among the Ait Abdallah Berber people of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas region. The pattern is obtained with the re...

A very finely woven wool veil used as a head scarf in the wedding ceremony among the Ait Abdallah Berber people of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas region. The pattern is obtained with the re...

Felts are among the first woolen structures made by mankind. Some of the earliest we know date from the 5th century B.C. and were found under ground in the frozen kurgans of Siberia....

A very finely woven wool veil used as a head cover in the wedding ceremony among the Ait Abdellah Berber people of the Moroccan Anti Atlas region. The pattern is obtained with the re...

This impressive collection of four carved wood figures are from the landlocked African country of Burkina Faso. This nation bordered by 6 other countries ...

Felts are among the first woollen structures made by mankind. Some of the earliest we know date from the 5th century B.C. and were found under ground in the frozen kurgans of Siberia...

Woven panels such as this would have decorated the walls of a traditional meeting house. The panels are made from woven bark fibre decorated with striking geometric designs. The da...

Statues of Juju Man or shamans were used for ceremonies connected with religious beliefs and magical practices. The general understanding of their meaning as including a supernatural...

This is a fine piecevof Kente Textile from the Ewe people of the Volta region of Ghana. Woven from handspun cotton and natural dyes. This is a prestige cloth worn by a high ranking Elder of the Ewe people. The pattern denotes the individuals high status within the community with the dark blue background indicating the wisdom and knowledge of the owner. This piece will date from the 1930's and is in very fine condition. Ewe Kente...

This is a fine old piece of Royal Ewe Kente from arpund 1930. Kente textile is a Royal Textile of the Ewe people of Ghana . This piece would have been worn...

A fine Ashanti maternity figure by the master carver Osei Bonsu. The mother figure is seated on a simple backless chair. An infant lays calmly in her la...

Vintage iron toy kitchen figure of a traditional antique kitchen representation. Made by unknown manufacturer in Spain, circa 1930. In original con...

Ceremonial dance MARKA mask, Mali, Africa, circa 1930’s ,ex Jean Paul Agogue, Paris -France. H.14" x W.5" x D.4" without the stand H.18" x 5"3/4 x D.6"1/2 w...

Tall hand-carved wooden oracle or divination tapper "Iroke Ifa" statue, showing a kneeling woman holding her breasts. Yoruba, Nigeria, circa 1930s. Yoruba belief specifies that each ...

Ceremonial camel cover rug. A large animal trapping, most probably a ceremonial cover for a camel made of felted wool and decorated with embroidered motif...

This intimately-sized 1930's Zulu snuff container has been beautifully decorated with glass beads. A circular opening features on one side, and on the other side, overlapping blue-an...

A very finely woven wool veil of an unusual format, sparsely embellished with touches of embroidery, used as a head cover in the wedding ceremony among the Ait Abdallah Berber people...

An original Anatolian Tulu pile rug hand knotted with natural, undyed wool and tailored into a coat. This was used by the shepherds inhabiting the area of Karapinar, in central Anato...

A rare complete tent band, embroidered in wool on a felt background, embellished at its bottom by polychrome tassels. The Kirghiz people of Central Asia empl...

Back aprons (negbe, pl. egbe) such as these were particularly popular among upper-class Mangbetu women at the turn of the 20th century. This distinctive kidney-shaped ornament pad wa...

Bamana N'tomo mask, Mali, 20th century "Generally surmounted by three to eight horns forming a comb, the N'tomoface mask refers to a moment of compulsory education given to uncircumcised young boys in certain West African societies. The mask's discreet, even absent, mouth emphasizes the behavior expected of them in their future adult life after training: controlling and measuring their words, knowing how to keep quiet, preserving secrets and enduring pain in silence." Excerpt from Masques du N'tomo, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière Collection, Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, France. The Bambara, or Bamana, live in central and southern Mali. Their name means “unbeliever” and was given to them by the Muslims. Animists, they believe in the existence of a creator god called Ngala, who maintains the order of the universe and coexists with another androgynous god called Faro, master of the Word, who gave all qualities to mankind and makes the fruits of the earth grow. Traditional Bamana art objects are closely linked to agrarian rites. The Bamana dance these masks during initiation and circumcision ceremonies for young boys in the Ntomo society. The face, with its vertical outgrowths at the top, adopts geometric features beneath a rounded forehead, including an imposing busted nose, as the Bamana favor this organ in their statuary as it evokes sociability and clan cohesion. Indeed, during choreography, the dancer frequently touches the nose of the mask. As teaching aids for candidates, masks from societies accessible to young boys and adults, such as the N'tomo, Korè and Ci wara...

Striking in form, of light highly textured wood, two highly stylized anthropomorphic figures carved by the Moba people in Togo, West Africa. These forms most probably we owned by a f...

Perdehs were used as tent dividers by the Kurdish tribes of Eastern Anatolia. Each flat-woven wool panel is individually dip-dyed and subsequently hand-stitched to the other panels. ...

This 1930's panel, from the Mbole culture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been woven from bark fibre. Dark-coloured strands of fibre, dyed with the roots of a banana tre...

This finely constructed and decorated grass fibre hat from the Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was collected in the 1930's. This wide-brimmed hat was likely made...