Recent Acquisitions

Here are a dozen recent acquisitions. I will be happy to provide additional photos and answer any questions you may have. JeromeEvans@sbcglobal.net

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This very handsome seated female figure comes from the Baule people of the Ivory Coast. It is 23" high and made of wood with traces of pigments. It dates to the 1930s-40s and is in good condition for its age.

Provenance: An important California collector.

The fine detail on this figure suggests that it was a private shrine figure kept out of view of others. Reference: Baule:  African Art, Western Eyes; Susan Vogel, 1997

$2,500

This male figure comes frrom the Mumuye people of Nigeria. It is 33" high and made of blackened wood. It dates to the mid 1900s and is in good condition for its age.

The Mumuye live in the River Benue/Cameroon area. Figures such as this protect houses, are guardians of law

and help bring rains.

Provenance: An important California collection.

$4,000

This very handsome pedestal bowl comes from the Atsugewi or Achumawi people of northeastern California and dates to the 1920s. It is 7 1/2" high and 6 3/44" in diameter and made of twined conifer root, bear grass and maiden hair fern. Apart from a short, stabilized horizontal break near the bottom, it is in excellent condition.

$1200

Here is another finely woven pedestal bowl from the Atsugewi or Achumawi people of northeastern California.  It also dates to the 1920s , measures 7 1/2" high and 10" in diameter, and is made of twined conifer root, bear grass, maiden hair fern and red

woodwardia fern.  Apart from a small, stabilized break near the bottom, it, too, is in excellent condition.

$1200

Another fine old betel-nut mortar from the Lower Sepik River region of New Guinea.

This one is 5" high and made of blackened wood.  It dates to the mid-1900s or earlier.

Sold

This is a fine old Washoe bowl from the early 1900s. It measures 6" high and 12" in diameter and is made of willow, redbud and bracken fern coiled on a three-rod willow foundation. here are 12-13 stitches/inch and 6 coils/inch. There are a few missing rim stitches missing and usage wear on the bottom, but otherwise it is in very good condition.

$1500

Here is a nice old bowl from the Lower Klamath River region of northwestern California (Hupa, Karuk, Yurok). It dates to the 1920s and measures 3 3/4" high and 6 1/2" in diameter. It is made of twined hazel shoots, conifer root and bear grass and is in very good condition.

$300

This finely made miniature Pomo gift basket measures 1" high and 3 1/2" long.

It is made of sedge and bulrush root coiled on a willow foundation and decorated with

clam shell discs, quail top knots, and bead and abalone shell pendants. It is in excellent condition.

$650

This is a nikisi nkondi or fetish from the Kongo people of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It dates to 1920 or earlier. The figure is 33" high and made of wood with added glass, nails and blades. It is in good condition for its age and use.

Provenance: From an important California collection.

Such figures were one element of the nikisi

ritualof the Kongo for dealing with all sorts

of village and individual problems. The extent to which a figure is covered with nails and iron blades is an indication of its useage. Reference: Africa: The Art of a Continent, p244-46.

$5,000

Here is an akua'ba  from the Asante people of Ghana. It is 8 1/2" high and made of blackened wood. It was collected in the

1960s but is in very good condition.

Provenance: Collection of Daniel J. and Perl Crowley.

"...it is among the best known images in African art...the quintessential 'fertility doll'

...said to represent the Asante ideal of female beauty: a round head with a high, flat forehead...wide cheeks and a long neck"  Isn't S/He a Doll? Play and Ritual in African Sculpture; Cameron, UCLA, 1996

$250 with base.

This extraordinary little box with a sliding lid has a male figure on the top, four faces on each side and a face on each end. It is made of wood and measures 1 1/4" high, 4 3/8" long and 2 7/8" wide. I beieve now that it is from Borneo or, possibly, Taiwan, but I am continuing to research it and will provide additional information when I can.

$300 (for now)

This is a relatively tall betel-nut motar from the Lower Sepik Region of New Guinea. It dates to the mid-1900s. It is 9 1/2" high and made of wood with traces of red and white pigment.

Betel-nut mortars are essenial possessions of older men (45+) who have lost their teeth and thus can not chew the betel nut. They are carved by skilled older men in many parts of New Guinea and other Oceanic islands.

$400