African Statues | African Wood Carvings

Part of the Akan group, the Akye number about 55,000. Standing and seated statues with bulbous arms and legs produced by the Akye show strong Baule influence, but they are very marked by their distinctive style.
PRICE: $424.99

This Baule sculpture represents a "blolo bian" or spirit husband (blolo bla being spirit wife). In Baule culture, the otherworld, (known to them as blolo), exists in contrast to the world of physical reality, existing in parallel to the lived world and is considered to be the world of the dead. Though, it must be noted that the blolo is more than a place for the 'departed', it is also a place of origin for the spirits of the newborn.
PRICE: $349.99

This Baule sculpture represents a "blolo bian" or spirit husband (blolo bla being spirit wife). In Baule culture, the otherworld, (known to them as blolo), exists in contrast to the world of physical reality, existing in parallel to the lived world and is considered to be the world of the dead. Though, it must be noted that the blolo is more than a place for the 'departed', it is also a place of origin for the spirits of the newborn.
PRICE: $569.99

Classically carved figures such as this mother and child among the Baule are known generally as waka sran, meaning a 'person of wood'. Some maternity sculptures were owned by diviners known as Komien, who could tell the future, cure illnesses as well as solving local community problems.
PRICE: $464.99

Classically carved figures such as this mother and child among the Baule are known generally as waka sran, meaning a 'person of wood'. Some maternity sculptures were owned by diviners known as Komien, who could tell the future, cure illnesses as well as solving local community problems.
PRICE: $569.99

Classically carved figures such as this mother and child among the Baule are known generally as waka sran, meaning a 'person of wood'. Some maternity sculptures were owned by diviners known as Komien, who could tell the future, cure illnesses as well as solving local community problems. The figure embodies a number of symbolic elements as shrine figure; she is a 'mother' and for the diviner she is a place of residence for the spirit of the bush to reside ready to be called upon by the diviner. Advised by the bush spirit (asye usu) the diviner will determine the reason that a woman is barren and direct her as to what she must do bear children.
PRICE: $399.99

Monkey, known as Mbra and sometimes referred to as Gbekre by the Baule, are considered as power figures used in many rituals. One ritual is a trance divination, where the spirit of Mbra assists the diviner in his effort to convey messages from the spirits of other world to the living, in order to solve a problem during a consultation. This is the one rare occasion where an Mbra can be seen to everybody.
PRICE: $199.99

The theme of maternity goes along with the Fante ideas of fecundity and the continuity of the matrilineage among the Fante. Symbolically, the female figure represents the queen mother which is vouched to perpetuate the matrilineage clan. Such figures were kept in family shrines dedicated to divinities devoted to the fertility and fecundity.In Fante culture, naturalistically carved figures representing either a spirit of a local shrine, an ancestor of a matrilineage or the ‘Queen Mother’ of a local chiefdom are often shown seated in local shrines indicating their rank, prestige and royal presence.
PRICE: $294.99

Faces of Hongwe reliquary figures are shovel-shaped. The Hongwe reliquary figures consist of three distinct sections, the oval, concave face cut off at the bottom that produces a shovel like form, the cylindrical neck, and the oval openwork base. These reliquary figures belong to the ancestor cult referred to as bwete, and surrmounted bundles or baskets that held relics of extraordinary ancestors.
PRICE: $419.99

The Mende settled in Sierra Leone during the 16th century, having migrated from the north. Today, the 2,000,000 Mende live mostly from rice and cocoa farming and are organized into different cheifdoms. Social order and structure are regulated by the poro male and the Sande female societies.
PRICE: $394.99

Though the Mumuye show great respect to their ancestors, the Mumuye lagalagana figures do not represent ancestors, but rather are embodied with guardian spirits. While these statues represent status and prestige of their owners, the owners would hold the statues in their hands, have intense dialogue with the statue and thus ensure their personal protection.
PRICE: $209.99

Tabwa art developed over a fairly short period during the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Sculptures reflected more on great families than on leaders. Tabwa lineage elders kept small wooden images to represent and honor ancestor spirits, great healers, and occasionally earth spirits. Such figures, called mikisi, were given specific names and kept in special buildings. Lineage elders occationally slept near than to receive ancestral inspiration.
PRICE: $149.99

This fetish figure (as called in older literature) or powere figure, is attributed to the Yaka people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is figure that would generally be used by diviners in the healing and protection rituals they held. They were however used by individuals, families and entire villages too in the fight against evil, to destroy or weaken and evil spirits that were present, to help prevent and even cure sickness, to solidify contracts or agrrements between tribes people, and to repel bad deeds.
PRICE: $129.99

The Y-shaped Shango staff forms, sculpted in relief, are used in special festivals and processions, followers of Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder, carry dance wands, called oshe shango, depicting a female devotee with Shango's symbol, the double-headed axe. Shango is thought to control the great powers of nature as one of the orisha, or gods.
PRICE: $169.99

The Y-shaped Shango staff forms, sculpted in relief, are used in special festivals and processions, followers of Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder, carry dance wands, called oshe shango, depicting a female devotee with Shango's symbol, the double-headed axe. Shango is thought to control the great powers of nature as one of the orisha, or gods.
PRICE: $169.99

This Baule sculpture represents a "blolo bian" or spirit husband (blolo bla being spirit wife). In Baule culture, the otherworld, (known to them as blolo), exists in contrast to the world of physical reality, existing in parallel to the lived world and is considered to be the world of the dead. Though, it must be noted that the blolo is more than a place for the 'departed', it is also a place of origin for the spirits of the newborn.
PRICE: $69.99