Ancestor figure with mask · Angola/Zambia, Chokwe · ID: 3042450
Serge Diakonoff, Geneva, Switzerland
Loiseau-Schmitz-Digard, St. Germain en Laye, 3 Juin 1997, lot 543
Yves Créhalet, Paris, France
Description
wooden body, entirely wrapped in net-like plant fibre costume with abundant grass fibre loincloth, crowned by helmet-shaped crest from rattan coated with bark cloth, facial contours and nose formed by plant fibre bulges, completely spread with blackish mass and painted in red and white, slightly dam., breakage (both arms), crack (mass);
among the Chokwe and the related Lovale and Lunda peoples, figures such as the present served a didactic function, and were used to instruct initiates as to the different types of ancestral spirits and dance skills. The Chokwe know over one hundred types of masked characters called “makishi”.
The object Ancestor figure with mask with the object ID 3042450 was last part of the auction 86th Tribal Art Auction at May 27, 2017 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 495 achieved a sales price of EUR 2,000.
You can find more Masks, Figures and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.
Publications
AHDRC: 0142354