African Art

Jacques Paye

19th–20th century
Cameroon, Western
Bamileke
Cotton, glass beads, wood
154.9 x 62.2 cm

Aka Elephant Mask

Cultural Context: Bamileke

Content: Elephant

Formal Aspects: Hatching, colors blended, beads

Function: Masquerade

Aka Elephant Mask:

Aka Elephant Mask

Bamileke masquerader with a

beaded Leopard crest

Aka Elephant Mask

LEOPARD HEAD PIECE
Collected by A. Diehl in Batcham, 1911
75265, L. 19 in. (48 1/2 cm)
Beads of four sizes; colours: white, light green, red

Date: mid-18th to mid-19th century
Southern Cameroon
Fang
Wood, Iron
Dimensions: 58.4 x 14.9 x 12.7 cm

Reliquary figure (byeri)

Cultural Context: Fang, ancestor worship

Content: Male ancestor figure

Formal Aspects: Highly stylized

Function: Attached to skull basket, ancestor worship

Reliquary figure (byeri)

Mummiform Figure, after 305 B.C.E. Wood, paint, 14 1/4 x 3 9/16 x 9 1/8 in. (36.2 x 9 x 23.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Fang. Reliquary Guardian Figure (Eyema-O-Byeri), 19th-20th century. Wood, 21 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (? x 14.0 x 19.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, The Adolph and Esther D. Gottlieb Collection

Late 19/Early 20th century
DRC
Chokwe
Wood, Plant Fiber, Copper
Dimensions: 39.1 x 21.3 x 23.5 cm

Female (Pwo) Mask

Cultural Context: Chokwe, central Africa

Content: Founding female ancestor

Formal Aspects: Highly stylized

Function: Used by male to play role of female ancestor

Female (Pwo) Mask:

Date: 19th–early 20th century

Geography: Angola, Xassenge region

Culture: Chokwe peoples

Medium: Wood, fiber, brass, pigment

Dimensions: H. 10 5/8 x W. 7 in. (27 x 17.8 cm)

Female (Pwo) Mask:

The Death Mask of Tutankhamun

19th/20th century CE
Sierra Leone
Mende
Polished hardwood

Bundu Mask

Cultural Context: Sande secret society

Content: Ancestral spirit with female features

Formal Aspects: Stylized, intricately carved

Function: Used as formal disguise during most important Sande rituals.

Bundu Mask:

Akkadian bronze head, found in Nineveh, perhaps head of Akkadian king Sargon of Akkad

A Bundu mask in a slightly different style.

1000-1400 CE
Southeastern Zimbabwe
Granite blocks
Shona peoples

Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe

Cultural Context: Ancestors of Shona

Content: Great Enclosure, 33-foot tall tower.

Formal Aspects: Excellent stonework, potentially symbolic structures

Function: Capital of kingdom, seat of royalty, up to 18,000 inhabitants.

Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe

Dromos entrance to the Treasury of Atreus

The tower at Gonbad. Mausoleum of powerful regional warlord.

founded c. 1200 CE
Rebuilt 1906-1907
Mali
Adobe

Great Mosque of Djenné

Cultural Context: Sudano-Sahelian

Content: Enormous adobe structure

Formal Aspects: Sun-baked bricks covered with mud coating. Decorative palm.

Function: Islamic mosque. Repaired every year.

Great Mosque of Djenné

White Temple and its ziggurat. Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq). Sumerian. c. 3500–3000 B.C.E. Mud brick.

Tomb of Askia Mohammad I, modern-day Gao, Mali. 1495, mud and wood imported from Mecca.

c. 1700 CE
South central Ghana
Adobe
Ashanti peoples
Gold over wood and cast-gold attachments

Sika dwa kofi (Golden Stool)

Cultural Context: Ashanti people

Content: Curved seat. Hanging bells.

Formal Aspects: Wooden, covered with gold. Gold is color of royalty.

Function: Stool allegedly fell from sky onto lap of Osei Tutu. Believed to house spirit of nation.

Sika dwa kofi (Golden Stool)

"Elgin Throne"

Artist/Maker(s): Unknown
Culture: Greek
Place(s): Athens, Greece (Place found)
Date: 4th century B.C.
Medium: Marble

Throne of King Tutankhamun.

Valley of Kings, Egypt. ca. 1323 BCE

Sources:

http://museum.dma.org/idc/idcplg?IdcService=SS_QD_GET_RENDITION&coreContentOnly=1&dDocName=dmacon_elephant_mask&dID=4957#m
http://www.randafricanart.com/Bamileke_elephant_and_leopard_headcrests.html
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/319264
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede/METs/METs_Sala03_02_02_027.html
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/364