Lovers and collectors of tribal art can take a wonderful whistle-stop tour of historic indigenous art at Dorotheum’s Tribal Art Auction on 9th June. The diversity of various ethnic cultures will be celebrated with 207 objects and groups of objects from Africa, Oceania, India, Asia, the Orient, and America. All objects on offer have been used in ceremonial dances, in rituals of ancestral worship or in everyday life.
Culture and Religion Combine
All objects in the auction were used at ceremonial dances, in rituals of ancestral worship, or in everyday life.
For example: relic guards made of wood and brass keep vigil over baskets containing the remains of the chiefs of the Kota in Gabon. The auction includes a rare example of these guards (starting price €7,000). The masks of the chieftains of Tschokwe, Angola, had a different function. Chieftains or their sons would dance with them when collecting tributes or when court sittings were held. The brow of the mask bears a tribal symbol, typical of the Tschokwe (€2,400). The black masks of the Punu from Gabon, (€ 2.500), were used to avert evil spirits, and they demonstrate the facial features of the Punu with their scar-tattoos on the mouth and corner of the eyes. These masks were danced with in the evenings and at nighttime.
A typical mask of the Senufo (Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso) bears stylised horns, extensions on each side and “legs” (parts of sacrificial animals). They were danced with at important ceremonies of the “Poro Secret Society” of the Senufo. One of these classic masks made of brown and black-coloured wood has a starting price of €1800.
The Ligbi or Kulango tribe from the Ivory Coast have a particularly unusual type of mask. This mask shows a black human face, from the forehead of which the long-necked head of the “sacred” hornbill, the mystic “Calao Bird” extends.
This rare and interesting mask (€1500)was cut out of a single piece of wood. A musical instrument of the Nyamwezi from Tanzania, crowned with the figure of a head, is also rare and intriguing. The unusually large “thumb piano” (called “Sanza”) (€ 800), was built with a trapezium-shaped resonating body. An undeniably interesting and rare piece is the ancestral sculpture of the Abelam from New Guinea, almost three metres tall (Oceania, starting price €3,000), as well as an exceptionally rare and brightly painted helmet-mask “Temes-Mbalmbal” from Vanuatu (previously the New Hebrides). It is made out of painted plant fibres. Its “helmet” shows a bright face with large boar tusks and on top of this mask sits a brightly painted and skilfully crafted figure of a man. This rare object was acquired by a missionary on the island of Malekula (starting price €2,000).
All in all, a comprehensive tour around the world in 207 “stops”!
When: 9th June, 2016; 4pm
Where: Preview from the 4th June at Palais Dorotheum, Vienna
Our experts are always on hand to answer any questions about the auction!
Prof. Erwin Melchardt, Tel +43-1-515 60-520,
erwin.melchardt@dorotheum.at