Art premier

Date: 18th century. Geography: Nigeria, Court of Benin. Culture: Edo peoples. Medium: Brass, iron. Dimensions: H. 13 1/8 x W. 9 3/8 x D. 10 3/8 in. (33.3 x ...

South Arabian stele Alabaster, 1st millennium BC (20.3 cm) The stele depicts an abstract face with carved eyes, a long nose, and a small fleshy mouth; above, an inscription in Minaic gives the name of...

In West and Central Africa, the elephant is a potent image of political force and the accumulation of wealth by those in power. This is true for the art of the Cameroon Grasslands, the origin of this mask, which is elaborately decorated with imported glass beads and represents an elephant. Long panels with geometric forms hanging down the front and back represent the animal’s trunk, and the flat discs with starburst patterns are its ears. The mask can be worn with a headdress made of red…

Anthropomorphic face mask "kifwebe" from the Luba people of DR Congo. Wood, paint, ca. mid 1900s.

Absolutely love this -like sculpture for the wrist. c. 1920s cuff bracelet

This white-faced maiden is sometimes mistaken for a character from the Japanese Noh theater. It is from the Musee du quai Branli and is one of the best Punu masks I have ever seen. Think how this highly abstracted sculpture would have shocked European artists in the late 19th century. The Punu were originally part of the Luango kingdom of Angola in the 18th century, and settled in south and southwest Gabon. In the Mukuyi society it represented a female guardian spirit in the funerary rites…