Auctiva Emporium: thegalleryunique

African fertility doll from the Mossi people of Burkina Faso. These dolls were played with by Ivory Coast children, tucked into their belts and were called biiga, the word for child in the Mossi language. The doll is carved from a single piece of heavy wood bearing all the scarification marks traditional to these people.

Our Gelede Society mask is worn horizontally like a cap. Like most of the masks of the Yuruba people such headdresses are part of an elaborate costume completely covering the wearer when worn as part of a celebration of a secret society. There are many secret societies. Members of the Gelede people wear such a mask on various occasions: to promote fertility at agricultural festivals honoring the god of the earth, also requesting blessings from ancestors, when masked men impersonate women, wearing artificial breast and padding their bodies at funerals and to placate witches.

Rarely seen outside of the Kalimantan Island this most sacred mask of the peoples from the Upper Mahakam river area, the Dayak tribe. The Dayak of Borneo's rain forest jungle have a rich culture which is rarely experienced outside of the area since these people were headhunters until recently. This mask is light-weight, so that the wearer can dance in it for many hours. It has a bite ring to hold it in place as well as long red loops which can be positioned as high up on the arms as is comfortable. It represents a combination of the all-powerful dragon with the fantastic hornbill bird. When in action the wearer is covered with a costume of grass.

The Chokwe drum is a double-headed, wood sculpture with two playable heads, three handles and the umbilical air hole. The abstract design accentuates the figurative faces. This is a very attractive piece. Measurements are: 44 cm high; 23 cm in diameter. "The Chokwe and their neighbors refer to ceremonies in general as 'playing the drum'. Hourglass-shaped drums like this one were reserved for performances associated with chiefs and although they could be used at any event, they were identified with Mukanda, the men's initiation society. The face represents Mwana wa Pwo, a masquerade character representing a young woman who appears in the communities during men's initiations to dance or 'play' with the women." From A celebration of African Music, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles.