African Tribal - 0065 Wee Anyi \'Gela\' War Mask (Agni, Dan, Guere, Guerre)
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African Tribal - 0065 Wee Anyi \'Gela\' War Mask (Agni, Dan, Guere, Guerre):
$591.16
African Tribal - 0065 Wee Anyi \'Gela\' War Mask (Agni, Dan, Guere, Guerre) Description
It has been over a year since Fine Tribal Gallery (Michaela3254)
set off to dig 2 wells and build 2 infants schools in Cote D\'Ivoire and Ghana in West Africa.
It is good to be back home and we have lots of amazing African treasures to list on behalf of the Chiefs we work with.
Please also note, all our masks and figures have been \'treated\' by African customs fumigation teams and we have permission from relevant Museums to export all our tribal pieces.
CLICK LINK BELOW TO SEE OUR LATEST PROJECT IN 2016
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WELCOME TO \'THE AFRICAN TRIBAL COLLECTION\' (The site for Fine Tribal Gallery)
Mostly museum quality \'tribally used\' art
\'Genuine\' tribally used Gela War Mask
Item Number: 0065
Country of origin: Cote D\'Ivoire
Ethnic group: Anyi (Agni)
Approximate age: Mid 20th Century
Tribally used: Yes
Materials: Wood, animal horns, tribal offerings,
Measurements (cm): Height 41 Width 30 D 24 4kg
Condition: Weathered, horn style=\"text-align: left;\">
This was field collected by our team from an Anyi village in Cote D\'ivoire.
Some pictures used are of Anyi girls performing during an Okodjo dance festival in Cote D\'Ivoire. (Fortaillier).
ANYI
The We / Wee / Guere / Anyi people live south and south-East of the more famous Dan people in Cote d\'Ivoire / Ivory Coast. They share many aspects of culture with the neighbouring Dan. They created masks that were used during festivities, funerals, rituals, wars, and that look rather scary and monstrous.
Among the Wee (or Wè) of Liberia and the Ivory Coast, individuals sponsor festivals that take place annually during the dry season, which lasts from November to February.
These festivals feature dancing and performances focused on the figure of the gela. The term gela refers to the animated being comprised of face mask, costume, and the wearer beneath. Gela masks are given a variety of identities that, rather than describing their physical appearance, are linked to the powers associated with the mask persona. The identity of a single mask might change over time. This gela mask is known as “The Ancient One,” suggesting that it was passed down over several generations.
As is true with many African mask forms, gela masks consist of distorted features that blend animal and human elements. In the case of “The Ancient One,” features are taken to an extreme. The mask seems to erupt in horns, tusks, and teeth. A straggly beard frames the jaw and tufts of hair sprout from each side of the beastly face. Gela can use their power and strength for both destructive and beneficial ends. Older gela, for instance, are thought to be able to cause thunder and foul weather. Any gela, on the other hand, can be called upon to reconcile problems within a community. The feral aspect of the gela acts as a counterexample to humans, who are, by contrast, encouraged to embrace order and civilization. It is believed the gela can gather up the ill will and negative feelings plaguing a community and deposit them back into the forest, where the untamed forces of nature prevail.
The forest plays a central role in the lives of the Wee, whose villages are surrounded by the bush. The Wee are known as healers for their skilled used of forest plants with medicinal value. These same plants provide leaves that are pounded, mixed with water, and applied to the gela mask in a ritual of activation. The mask is, thus, invested with the spiritual power and vital energy of the forest.
Payment
PayPal Accepted as are other methods including cheques,
bank transfers, and postal orders.
Payments can alsobe sent directly to our charitable fund in Cote D\'Ivoire
via ourAid Manager\'Osman Moro\', or through our charity partner \'Volunteer to Change - Ghana\'
Please contact us to discuss any options
[phone removed by ]
.
Shipping
BIGPOSTAGEDISCOUNTS -IFYOUBUYMORETHAN1 ITEM
We do not charge for packing, and always try toestimate the minimum postage, but we send pieces \'recorded delivery\' which usually means a signature is required by the buyerWe reserve the right to relist items not paid for within 7 days.Tribal Pieces are packed carefully by us, andnormally shipped by
\'24 or 48 hour \'tracked\' delivery\' service in the UK, by our courier.
Normally we use, \'World Parcel Service tracked\' (UPS) for Internationaldeliveries
We welcome requests from customers as to your specific
postal / customs requirements
Packages are normally insured during transit
and will need to be signed for
** If shipping rates are not displayed for your country,
please contact us before buying as shipping costs to you may be higher **
Terms of Sale
MASKSSTANDS ARE AVAILABLE TO BUY (NOTINCLUDEDINSALEUNLESSSTATED)
WE ONLY BUY TRIBALARTPIECESFROM VILLAGES- LOCAL REPAIRS
We will endeavour to point out or photograph any \'significant\' damage in our listings
About Us side of \'Fine Tribal Gallery\')Excellent quality Tribally used Art at sensible INWESTAFRICA WEWORK WITH)We are a predominentlyEnglish team of tribal hunters basedin the UK, with strong links to Ghana and much of West Africa. We have all,overthe last fewdecades,been pasionate collectors of African antiquities, particularly tribally used ceremonial masks and figures. Steve & Michaela previously lived in West Africa for over 15 years, and have an extensive personal collection from theirtravels around Africa then.African Tribal Art has been plundered over the years and \'copies / fakes\' are everywhere!!! - but there are still a lot of nice pieces about if you have the time tohunt through villages!
Many pieces, even in some villages have been made to be sold one day, but with experience you can weed out the obvious pieces and find the genuine tribally used pieces..We have found that ahuge amount of \'established\' sellers and big tribal galleries have never even been to Africa! They rely on so called \'antiques\' dealers in Africasending them pieces, or most buy pieces from smaller local sales in Europe, flea marketsandthe like, and just reference such pieces to old magazines and books for prices& styles and assume they are \'genuine\'. Wehave pieces appraised by, and regularly go to many of the big sales in Paris, at Sotheby\'s, Christie\'s, Bonham\'setc, and visit friends at the well establishedTribalArt galleries there. We have spent many years studying TribalArt styles and visiting exhibitions and museums in Europe.The \'style\' and \'movement\' of pieces is important to us, as is supplying quality art at \'sensible\' prices. We sell to established collectors, and even other sellers in Europe and the USA to help fund our aid projects in West Africa.\'Provenance\' is all fine and well, and although we do have established collectors offering us pieces to sell for our projects, there are stillmany gems to be found hidden away in Africa. The same piece we and others may offer for £5000 may be £25000 or £50000 in Paris or New York, because \'X\' documented it in the 1940\'s!!TribalArt is a growingarea& big sale house prices are soaring, as you may have seen recently.\'Fine Tribal Gallery\' is not a \'registered\' charity. We are passionate about Africa andtribal Art andweare doingwhat we canto support various villages inGhana,Cote D\'Ivoire, Mali, Liberiaandelsewhere in West Africa. We are currently working with several \'registered\' aid agencies in country, including \'SOS Childrens Villages, \'WaterAid\' and with severalNGO\'s such as\'Volunteer to Change\'as well as many local Chiefs. We generate the fundsthey need for specific projects, from the sale of Tribal Art.We arein Africa several times a year working on our aid projects, and of course hunting for new treasuresfrom \'untapped\'sources. Sometimes we go deep in thebush to remote villages - our passion is for rare tribally used artifacts with excellent \'style\'and \'patina\', not merely antiques.Our sources forthetribal pieces wehave for sale, stretch out across Africafrom Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D\'Ivoire, Mali,etcdown as far as the Congo...We have awarehouse and shipping outlet situated in Ghana, where we initially store allthe \'finds\' from our hunting trips around West Africa. We then check and fumigate all the pieces ourselvesthere, and when they arrive in the UK -before we send to ourworld-widecustomers.Africa is rife with \'copies\' and so we do not rely heavily on external sources to supply ourpieces (as many sellersdo!)as wewould then not be able toreliably assure our buyers of the \'provenance\' and \'authenticity\' of our items. We choose all the pieces ourselves, anddo our best to verify the \'age\' and \'use\' of pieces we find, and we regularly testpieces to verify authenticity.We have local experts in West Africa who help us to assess pieces we find, regarding age and authenticity, utilising their knowledge of the woodusedand the carving styles of the relevant tribes. Weregularly send many tribal piecesfor\'spectroscopy\' age dating tests, at the Museum of Arts and Science in Milan. This can not only date the wood accurately, but can also ascertain if the piece was recently carved from an old piece of wood!
We don\'t just believe everything we are told by villagers and chiefs...This is how we oftentest pieces- \'Spectroscopy\' via the Museum of Art & Science (Italy & Germany) - It confirms type of wood, and age of carvingPlease note that we do not always take pictures in a professional studio Environment - weoften take pictures in or just outside the villages in Africa, often with the owner or a village dancer. Normally, it is even exactly where we find the items... (Quite often this is behind a hut, in a tree, or in a clearing in the village,sometimes wejust useawhite or black sheet hung from a tree). We do not polish or \'clean\' the items, so our customers receive them as they were found by us. This, we believe,is part of the authentic African experience we try to offer.
Thanks for looking. Steve, Michaela, Sharon & Petro.We always welcome questions, please email us via
Contact Us
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African Tribal - 0065 Wee Anyi \'Gela\' War Mask (Agni, Dan, Guere, Guerre):
$591.16