Catalog: Vintage Arts: Regional Art (80)

A baby carrier made of wood and woven rattan, decorated with a woven panel of glass beads, strings of glass beads, bronze bells, bone ornaments, animal teeth and a wooden sculpture. Dayak, Borneo, ca. 2nd quarter of the 20th century. The bead panel possibly earlier as they were passed on from generation to generation. H. 33 cm , W. 36 cm.

Dimensions 57x17x7 cm. Extremely old piece with wonderful agewear and patina. Provenance: -Galerie Maria Wyss, Basel. - Udo und Wally Horstmann, Zug. - Galerie Walu, Zürich. - Hammer Auktionen, Basel Comes with a custom made stand.

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.

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.

Hardwood group depicting a horse rider surrounded by a kneeling figure and two drum players. H. 19 cm. First half of the 20th century. Some missing parts on the kneeling figure. Ex coll. Ursula Heijs Voorhuis (1932-2021), The Netherlands. Ex Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, Germany.

A very rare group from Ketu, Benin, probably used as a divination tray or as a display piece for an important Babalawo. Diameter 52 cm, H. 30 cm. Mid 20th century. The hand of one figure has been replaced. Ex coll. Ursula Voorhuis (1932-2021), The Netherlands Ex Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg Guy van Rijn archive: ao-0102485-005 with comments from Ursula Voorhuis and Hans Witte. The scene depicts the consultation of the Ifa oracle by a woman. The Babalawo (father of the secret) or oracle priest in charge sits to the right of the woman. He has taken 16 palm nuts from the ‘Agere Ifa’ (cup for palm nuts), that stands beside him and is about throw the nuts from his left to his right hand. If he drops one nut in the process, he will make two marks in the wood dust on the oracle tray before him, if he misses two nuts, he will make one mark. After two sets of four throws, the result on the tray will indicate to him the oracle verses he will have to recite to his client. The third person that seems to supervise the proceedings is also a Babalawo and even an important one, judging from the thick beaded necklace that hangs over his chest, with an attachment from his neck. It seems that his right hand held a staff, probably an Ifa tapper that is used to tick on the tray in order to attract the attention of Eshu, the messenger.

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

Impressive figure of 63 cm. height. Excellent age wear and patina with remains of old infestations. Ex. Robert van der Heijden, Amsterdam This item will be exhibited at the Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam, October 25th-27th www.tribalartfair.nl

Kuba figure, a workshop piece from ca. 1920-1940. This sculpture is typical for the Ecole de Mushengé. This was a school for crafts in the Kuba capital founded by Belgian missionaries, the Josephite fathers from Ghent. The numbers at the bottom confirm this. It represents a nobleman. H. 27 cm. A great example of early commercial carving. Provenance: a Dutch family by descend from their grandparents who lived in Congo.

First half of the 20th century. H. 56 cm. Ex Lucas Ratton, Paris. Ex Jan Kusters, Eindhoven. Ex Srdjan Sremac, The Hague. Custom made stand included.

Made of hardwood. Early 20th century. Laos is famous for its ‘tribal’ Buddhas. They were made by village carvers and donated in large quantities to the temples. H. 55 cm. Condition: remains of polychromy, age wear, cracks.

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

Igbomina region, Omu Aran village. Female figure with scarifications and two bronze bracelets. Early 20th century. Provenance: Ursula Voorhuis, The Netherlands. She owns one of the largest Yoruba collections in the world.

A rare piece of early Maroon culture. Surinamese Maroons (Marrons or Businenge, meaning black people of the forest) are the descendants of enslaved Africans that escaped from the plantations and settled in the inland of Suriname (Dutch Guiana) and French Guiana. The Surinamese Maroon culture is one of the best-preserved pieces of cultural heritage outside of Africa. Dimensions: H. 32 cm, W. 42 cm, D 21 cm. Ex Arjan Hollestelle, The Netherlands.

Ashanti doll, 2nd quarter of the 20th century, by a known carver. See Ron van Doorn - Herbert M. Cole : Akua’Ba Asante Wednesday Child, page 154-155. H. 24,5 cm. Provenance: private collection UK.

Anthropomorpic cup, depicting a standing female. H. 21,5 cm. Rare and early piece. Repair to the rim of the cup. Provenance: Dutch private collection.

Elegant figure with great age. H. 30 cm. Condition: old worm holes. Early 20th century. Provenance: Christophe Rolley, Paris, Srdjan Sremac, Den Haag.

Rare and early Baule figure, made of hardwood with very fine carving. Made by a known carver. H. 32,5 cm. Early 20th century. Lovely age wear and great patina. Provenance: private collection UK.

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.

Early to mid 19th century game box, holding a box of bone playing tokens plus two lacquered wooden trays on the left and 8 sculpted lacquer trays on the right. Generally the box is in good condition. The outside has some fading, age wear and chips. The legs have had some repairs. The interior is in very good condition. Dimensions: 32x16x12 cm.