Catalog: Vintage Arts: Regional Art (80)

Hardwood, first half 20th century. H. 18 cm. Old insect damage. Ex private collection Belgium, collected in Abidjan in 1968.

H. 9 cm. Mid 20th century or a bit older. For a similar spoon see the screenshot of the Van Rijn Archive.

Yoruba stool with a dog (?) , Nigeria. Ex Ursula Voorhuis (1932-2021). Mid 20th century or older. H. 28 cm, diameter 22 cm.

Bamana Sukun mask First half 20th century. Parts of the ears and a kind of horn on the forehead are missing. Traces of polichromy. Rare mask with great age! Ex Swiss private collection. H. 40 cm Stand included.

Male and female Ibeji from Iseyin City, Oyo State., adorned with a necklace and bracelets made of glass beads and a belt made of cocunut discs. H. 26,5 cm. First half of the 20th century. Provenance: Dutch private collection, Robert van der Heijden, Amsterdam.

Depicting a female spouse figure ‘Blolo Bla’. H. 13 cm. first half of the 20th century. Great age wear and patina. Ex coll. Maine Durieu, Paris. The Baule believe a person is married to both an earthly and a spirit spouse. This sculpture honored its owner’s spirit partner to bring peace, luck, and money. Scarifications on her face and body individualized and enhanced her idealized beauty. The figure stood in the owner’s bedroom where, once a week, he slept alone so they could be together in the dream world. It is rare to find these figures in miniature.

L. 48 cm.  Good condition with expected age wear, cracks, some insect damage and some damage to the left ear. First half 20th century. Guy van Rijn ao-0083609-001 Provenance: Arnold Newman (1918-2006), New York, until 2006, Robert Schrimpf, Paris, Christie’s Paris, 2006, Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 2009.

Wood covered with sheat metal. H. 30 cm. Mid 20th century. One horn repaired. special price: from € 750 for  € 300

Anthropomorpic female figure. Probably used as a headdress. H. 48 cm. Mid 20th century. Provenance: Kathy van der Pas en Steven van de Raadt, 1998, Otto Schaap, Amsterdam, De Zwaan, Amsterdam, 2020.

Caryatid stool with a sitting female figure. Hardwood, h. 26 cm, diameter 23 cm. First half of the 20th century. minor repair to one leg. The earrings have been replaced. Provenance: Donald Taitt, Paris, Aponem Auction, 2019, J.M. Desaive, Herve, Belgium

Anthropomorphic mask depicting a female. Hardwood with metal earrings. H. 24 cm. First half of the 20th century. A very fine mask with nice scarifications on the cheeks and forehead. Beautiful signs of age and a lovely patina. Ex Roger Bergmans, Belgium. Ex Srdjan Sremac, The Hague. Comes with a beautiful metal stand by Roger Bergmans.

Small and rare fetish figure. Hardwood with feathers, glass, copper, horn, fabric. First half of the 20th century. H. 13 cm (20 cm with the solid brass stand). Ex. JM Desaive, Herve, Belgium. Ex Srdjan Sremac, The Hague.

A late 19th to early 20th century Montol figure with a great provenance. This hardwood female figure stands 35,5 cm tall. A very strong figure with possible influence from the Goemai, Chamba or Mumuye. Provenance: Collected in 1967-68 by Daniel Mato, former curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary, department of art history. Amyas Naegele, New York, ca. 2002. Robert Beckman, Henderson, Nevada. Srdjan Sremac, The Hague. Exhibited twice in Canada at the University of Manitoba and the University of Calgary. This figure comes with a letter from Mato to Beckman dated Nov. 9, 2002, explaining about the history and identification of the piece.

Benue Plateau, mid 20th century. H. 40 cm. Ex Robert van der Heijden, Amsterdam. Ex Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, March 2014. The Djompre are a small ethnic group with their homeland in the Benue Plateau State in northern Nigeria. They call themselves Kutep or Kutev, the denomination Djombre - which means cannibals - has probably been given to them by the neighbouring Chamba.

Early 20th century male mask with scarifications. H. 31 cm. Ex David Utzon Frank, Denmark. Ex Srdjan Sremac, The Hague.

Hardwood stool decorated with four carved figures. First half 20th century.One side shows two Yoruba women; the right one is feeding her baby, the left one is holding an unknown object. The other side shows to Yoruba men dressed in European clothing. The top and bottom of the stool are decorated with a geometric band. H. 29,5 cm, diameter 24 cm. Condition: age cracks, the right man is missing his hands. The stool shows good signs of use and has a great patina. Provenance: Ursula Voorhuis, The Netherlands. She owns one of the biggest Yoruba collections in the world and did a lot of field research and collecting in the 60’s and 70’s. Van Rijn Archive nr. ao-0105625-001

Anthropomorphic heddle pulley. Mid 20th century. H. 25 cm. The ears and nose with cotton ornaments.

From the collection of Desmond Morris comes this exceptional protective figure. The face and body have fine carvings and red and white pigments. H. 75 cm, W. 68 cm. Provenance: Bonhams London 2004, Mallams Auctioneers Abingdon, 2015, Collection Desmond Morris, Mallams Auctioneers Oxford 2019.