Suintante

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Staff “tefalapica” Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Civilization SenufoIvory Coast End of 19th century or beginning 20th century Wood, palm oil Height: 128 cm Provenance: collection Helene Leloup, Paris These staffs were used in agricultural contests. The winner of the annual cultivation contest was given the “tefalapica”.  A rare detail is the vessel complete with the lid on top of the head. 55

Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Nigeria The effects of time and the elements on the cubist architecture of the present statue have resulted in an image of unusual beauty 56

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Ancestor Figure Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Civilization JukunNigeria 19th century or earlier Wood, oily patina Height: 37 3/4 inches (95.9 cm) Provenance: ● Roger Azar, Paris, by 1989 ● By descent from the above Sotheby’s, New York, May 5, 1997, lot 68 ● Private American Collection, acquired at the above auction Literature: ● Liliana Albertazzi, «Roger Azar», Galeries Magazine, No. 30, April - May, 1989, p. 129 ● Kevin Conru, Anonymous Collectors, Brussels, 2007, unpaginated, 1989, fol. 15 recto (left) The imaginative figurative sculpture from the Jukun people of the Benue River Valley of Nigeria was little known in the west prior to the late 1960s, and specific functions and iconography are not well understood. Like the neighboring Mumuye people, they are responsible for a corpus of remarkably abstract geometric conceptions of the human body.The present figure, although significantly eroded, can be linked to a group of figures photographed in situ in the 1960s by Arnold Rubin, and related examples in American collections (see Fardon in Berns, Fardon, and Kasfir 2011: 272-277), in which the arms are held with elbows bent at the sides, the hands clasped at the center and often holding an upright spear.The remains of pendant braids as well as angular openwork ears support this identification. The effects of time and the elements on the cubist architecture of the present statue have resulted in an image of unusual beauty 59

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Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Fang The oil that was lavished on the surface of Fang bieri sculptures and continues to saturate the wood a century after their removal from Africa 64

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Figure,“bieri” Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Civilization FangGabon End of 19th century, Wood, leather bindings Height: 19 cm Provenance: Colonial collection, Madrid A small Fang figure of exceptional quality. These small-sized objects are very rare in the large corpus of Fang figures.They nevertheless probably served the same purpose as the bigger figures. 67

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Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Fang reliquary head, angokh-nlo-byeri Civilization Fang Gabon 19th century or earlier Wood, copper nails Socle par Kichizô Inagaki (1876-1951), Paris Height: 38.5 cm. (15¼ in.) Provenance: ● Merton Simpson, New York ● Daniel Hourdé, Paris ● Patricia Withofs, Londres ● Sotheby’s, Londres, vente privée ● Rudolf et Leonore Blum collection, acquired from the latter in December 1986 ● Dr Alexander Schlag The function of these ritual effigies, which were easy to transport when migrating, was to magically preserve the human reliquary remains of lineages, from generation to generation, in the large cylindrical woven bark cases which all family heads had in their possession. 70

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Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Congo The libations of oil are obviously a sign of being treasured and respected by the Luba themselves 74

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Male Figure Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Civilization Basikasingo Atelier of the Basiatshiwa-Mwamuwa regionDemocratic Republic of Congo End of 19th century Wood, palm oil Height: 29, 5 cm Provenance: ● Philippe Guimiot, Bruxelles ● Private collection, New York A small boyo figure that is probably part of a group of figures that is attributed to the workshop of the Bsiatshiwa-Mwamuwa region. The body is kept very abstract, and all of the emphasis is given to the head, which is very delicately carved and was imbued with libations of palm oil over a very long period of time. “Very often among the Boyo, each figurine is given the name of the ancestor it represents. As the oldest representative of that local group, the owner of the statues includes all key ancestors in the worship: the unifying mother, the founders of five sub-lineages ranked in terms of seniority, and within his own lineage, the founder of another house.” (page 37, Statuary from the Pre-Bembe hunters, Daniel P. Biebuyck,Tervuren 1981) 77

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Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Male and female figure pair Civilization Luba Democratic Republic of Congo End of 19th century Wood, palm oil Height: 35 and 40 cm Provenance: ● presumably Willy Mestach, Bruxelles ● Andree-Laure Seret Collection Luba arts count among the finest that Africa has to offer. Artists occupied a privileged place in the hierarchy. These two figures, male and female, are quite atypical . The very abstract carvings display great inventiveness. The carver wasn’t interested in naturalism here, but was searching for new ways of stylizing. 80

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Charm figure Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Civilization LubaDemocratic Republic of Congo End of 19th century Wood, animal hide Height: 40 cm Provenance: Ex collection Witasse de Thesy, Paris A fully carved figure is hidden underneath several layers of animal hide, but only the head is sticky with an oily patina. A truly magical object. 85

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Male figure Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Civilization SongyeDemocratic Republic of Congo End of 19th century Wood, cauri shells, copper, animal hide Height: 45, 5 cm Provenance: ● Belgian colonial collection ● Jack van Overstraeten, Bruxelles ● Christine Valluet, Paris Very old figure, with sweaty patina. A wonderful artistic rendering of the neck extending out from a blocky body that works in complete harmony with the sculpture as a whole, and which, as is the case with most Songye figures, highlights and enhances the most significant part of the figure - its head. See description of object page 68 89

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Adrian Schlag - Tribal Art Classics Male figure Civilization Songye Democratic Republic of Congo End of 19th century Wood, cauri shells, copper nails, animal hide Height: 46 cm Provenance: ● John Giltsoff, Bruxelles ● Allan Stone, New York ● Private collection, Munich Just as for the object described on page 89, the most important part of this sculpture is the big head with the copper nails all over the face. The combination of different materials together with the oily patina makes Songye sculpture one of the most expressive African sculptural styles. 94

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